Paths That Will Never Cross Again
by BlackjackCF
Summary: He looked back and watched the scene sadly. How it broke his heart to do so. Then he turned back, his hair covering his eyes so no one would see his tears, and he walked forward, never looking back again, hoping their paths would never cross again.aerseph
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Small pieces and fragments of his memory came back to him.

_Anger…_

Why was there so much burning anger?

_Nibelheim… burning… destroyed…people murdered…_

Why did he destroy Nibelheim? Where did all the anger come from? Who had given him the command?

_Jenova… Kill human traitors…_

Who was this Jenova again? Why did he kill the "human traitors?" Was he not a human himself?

Then suddenly, he remembered.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Live again…_

Air was forced into his lungs and he began breathing again. Then something else caused his heart to beat. Soon, after a few beats, his heart and lungs worked by themselves.

Blood rushed to the brain and it came back to life. It immediately began checking each of the systems.

One by one, the man's internal organs began to come back to life.

And he was alive.

"So he is awake."

The man slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Blurred images came to him. He rubbed his eyes and the images cleared. He found himself lying in a field of flowers. He slowly sat up and looked around. Where the hell had the voice come from?

He then checked himself. He found that he was still clothed in his battle armor, but his Masamune was nowhere to be found. "Now where the hell did it go?"

Suddenly an image smashed into his head. He wanted to fall back, pain throbbing through his body.

_Masamune… kill fake Cetra…_

His head began hurting even more, sending shocks through his body. He fell to the ground, holding his head and groaning, trying not to clench his teeth. Who was that girl! One side told him that she was a Cetra but the other side told him that she was only another human traitor.

_What the hell is she! _His mind screamed. _Is she a Cetra or not? Why this all of a sudden?_

When he was well enough, he slowly stood up and began to walk straight forward. _I hope I'm going somewhere. _He thought. _I need to find out where I am and why I am here._

His head began to throb again. Dizzying images spun in his mind.

_The blonde man… Strife… the failure clone…_

_Such hate in his eyes as he fought._ The man thought. _Why am I here! Perhaps this is a hallucination… or am I…_

Another thought hit him. He remembered their last fight. So much blood… so much that he could smell it and taste it. The failure had mortally wounded him. Images soon led him to the last thing he had seen before he was here. The blonde man yelling out as he brought down his large sword…

"That's impossible!" He shouted. "No failure clone can beat me! None! This is all only a lie!"

_And who will hear your cries? _He thought and silenced himself.

"I'm dead." He said to himself, almost laughing at the thought. "I'm dead."

Then he thought. _What the hell is my name?_


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Oh ----, what the hell is my name!_ He searched his mind frantically for an answer. _Who am I!_

"A murderer…" A voice whispered. It was harsh and it was neither a man nor a woman's voice.

The hair on the back of his neck stood straight up. He whirled around, but there was nothing there. Who the hell said that… or was he really hallucinating? "Tell me! Who am I!" He yelled to the voice.

"Who do you think you are?" Came a woman's voice.

The voice had come from behind him… again. He turned and aw a girl dressed in pink. She had brown hair put into a large braid and her eyes were emerald green.

Fear erupted through his body. "You're… you're dead!" He screamed, stumbling backwards and nearly tripping on a rock. "I killed you!"

There was no doubt about it. It was _her_. The "Cetra" girl that had prayed for Holy to come. His fear was engulfed by anger. He lunged at her, but a force field came around her and threw him ten feet away.

He landed on some flowers. He got back to his feet. He was ready to charge again.

"Wait!" the girl shouted. "Don't! Talk to me first, alright?"

He felt confused. Why the sudden anger again, he shouldn't be angry. "I'm sorry." He grunted. "I don't know what came over me. Er… who are you?"

"It's quite alright. I understand. I'm Aeris." The girl smiled, brushing her brown bangs away from her face. "You remember me, right?"

The man nodded slowly. "Aeris." He repeated. That was the name that the blonde man had yelled when the girl had died. "Who am I? Do you know?"

"I know who you are." Aeris said slowly. "But I cannot tell you."

"What?" the man hissed, anger came back to him. "What man is not allowed his own identity? I just want to know who I am and why I am here!"

Aeris sighed. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "You have to find yourself."

"What do you mean find myself?" the silver-haired man snarled, confused. "How! Why?"

Aeris sighed again. She knew that the Cetra would not allow her to tell him too much. "You have to find who you are."

"Can you tell me who I am? To save some time?" He asked hopefully.

"If I were to tell you," Aeris began. "You would not understand what you must learn."

The man gave a puzzled look. "Understand? Lesson? What lesson do I need to understand? I just wanted to know my name!"

Aeris shook her head sadly. "There's much more to it than your name."

The nameless one folded his arms. "Tell me. I have plenty of time."

She began.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"The one called Cloud Strife killed you. He also killed Jenova." Aeris said. The man nodded. "Or so he thought. You may have died, but Jenova can come back, even if only an atom of her is left. Her body was made to regenerate from almost nothing."

"And so now she is back, and still alive." He said.

The Cetra nodded. "She doesn't have her eyes set on stealing energy from the Planet anymore… well… while AVALANCHE is still around, anyway. She now is looking back at her first target… the Cetra."

The nameless one spluttered, now he was extremely confused. "I remember Jenova was telling me that we were the only Cetra left on the Planet!"

Aeris shook her head. "She lied. She was only using you. She wanted you to destroy the Planet _for her_. Then she could take the energy for herself. She would have gotten rid of you afterwards."

He was confused yet again. "I don't remember why, but I wanted to listen to her… it was almost as if I _had_ to."

"That is for you to figure out." Aeris said. Then she started again. "I am a Cetra, and I was the last of my kind. When you killed me, there were no more Cetra to defend the Planet. Even though we are dead to the Planet, we are alive in the Promised Land."

The man's eyes snapped up. He felt scalded. Jenova wanted to get to the Promised Land. "So this is the Promised Land?" the man asked.

Aeris shook her head. "This is not the Promised Land, it is the Lifestream. I wasn't sure if you are allowed in the Promised Land."

"After what I did." The man felt guilty. He thought back to Nibelheim.

Suddenly, another thought hit him. "Wait! If she's coming for the Cetra… then she's heading for the Promised Land!" The silver-haired man looked alarmed, suddenly figuring it all out.

Aeris nodded slowly. "Very good. I knew you would almost be able to figure it out. You are very close."

"Only very close?"

"She's _in_ the Promised Land."


	5. Chapter 4

Ok... sorry for not updating for like two days... I think this Chapter's kinda weiiiiird... anyways... read on

* * *

**Chapter 4**

As soon as the words left the Cetra's mouth, the silver-haired man felt very pleased. Then a feeling of guilt washed over him and he quickly shook the pleased feeling away. _Jenova was only using you! Why are you so pleased that she is killing the _real_ Cetra?_ His brain shouted at him. _But how do you know that the Cetra girl was telling the truth?_

"Because…" He whispered to himself. "She abandoned me at the last fight. She left my body because she knew that I would not win. The selfish b---- didn't want to die."

"What?" Aeris asked.

The nameless one shook his head. "Nothing, I was merely thinking aloud to myself." Quickly changing the subject, he asked, "Why have you brought me here? Why are you telling me all this about Jenova?"

"Er… well…" Aeris began, she wasn't sure if it was safe to tell him. "The Cetra are not skilled in the art of fighting."

The man nodded. "Your race heals rather than destroy."

The Cetra nodded. "When Jenova came, she managed to nearly wipe the Cetra to extinction. We were not powerful enough to fight her, until finally, a group of Cetras managed to use a spell on her that paralyzed her. We buried her underground, hoping no one would ever dig her up. Jenova waited for millenniums, and when ShinRa rose, she knew that she would be found soon."

"Professor Gast dug her up." The man said, remembering what he read in the books of the ShinRa Mansion's library.

Aeris nodded. "And when she was excavated, the spell was broken."

"Ok… so what was your point?" He asked.

Aeris was going to make this quick. "We need you to help us defeat Jenova and destroy her forever."

He frowned. "Why don't you just get the failure clone to do all that?"

"I know you're not stupid. You know that Cloud isn't dead. He can't go into the Promised Land unless he's dead."

"Well, then, isn't that too bad?" He folded his arms and looked away. "I don't feel like fighting Jenova."

"Child, this will not work. He will not obey." The same harsh voice that called the silver-haired man a murderer spoke.

"Planet…" The girl sighed. "I know he will. Once he meets his real mother."

The word 'mother' affected the man badly. _That's why I had to listen to Jenova… she's my mother!_ He thought.

"I already know Jenova." He said bluntly.

Aeris shook her head. "That's not your mother." She said. "She was only lying about that part. Think, you are a human and she is not."

The man looked down at his hands. He thought back to when he turned into Bizzaro form and One Winged Angel form. "Are you sure that I'm human and not a monster like her?" he asked. "How can you still manage to be friendly to me when I killed you? When I almost killed all of your friends?"

"It's because, you are not a bad person. It was Jenova who made you do those things." Aeris said. "Now… it's time to meet your mother."

Mixed feelings of nervousness and excitement washed over him. Who was this woman that was really his mother? He looked at Aeris eagerly. "Who is she?" he inquired. "What is her name?"

"Lucrecia, it's time to meet your son." Aeris called.

Suddenly, from thin air, a beautiful woman with beautiful brown eyes and feathery brown hair tied back into a ponytail, appeared. She was dressed in a light blue dress that matched her. "Oh my son!" she cried, running towards the silver-haired man. "All grown up!"

Lucrecia wrapped her arms around the man. He felt numb. Never in his life had he been hugged. All through his childhood he had…

_Had? What happened during my childhood?_ He suddenly realized that he did not remember anything from the past. _Gast… that's all I can remember…_

" what's wrong?" Lucrecia asked.

The man looked at Lucrecia, had she said his name? When she said it, for some reasons, he could see her mouth open and close but he hadn't heard anything come out. He felt strange, when her lips had moved, he could not read them even though he could usually read lips.

_So, even if anybody told me my name, I wouldn't be able to hear it, or read their lips._ He thought, wanting to scream. _Now how am I supposed to remember!_

"Mother…" He found that it was strange to call this woman his mother… he was still used to Jenova. "I… cannot remember… my childhood…"

"I'm sorry, but you must find out your past alone without anyone's help." Aeris sighed, then she brightened. "I'll call you something else than… how about—"

"Destroyer… fool… murderer…" He cut in.

"Well… if you have to be so… down… how about Nefilim?" Aeris suggested.

"That's fine." He replied. "Nefilim it is."

"Sweetie… don't be like that." Lucrecia touched her son's face.

"Nefilim" did not know why but he flinched. He shrank away. _When touched only pain will come…_ A thought crossed his mind.

Where had that come from? Perhaps something from the past? He saw that Lucrecia had given a hurt look. He apologized immediately. "I'm sorry, mother… I don't… know why…" He looked away.

"What has he done to you?" Lucrecia whispered. "My poor baby. What has he done?"

_Who is _he The man thought to himself.

"Oh… I must be going now…" Lucrecia sighed. "Goodbye son."

A pang of sadness came over him. He had never felt this feeling before and it tasted strange to him. "Wait… mother…" He walked over to his mother and hugged her tightly.

How could he have ever thought that Jenova was his mother? She had never shown him affection, only anger and hate. _Damn you, Jenova. _He thought. _Lies… all that was fed to me my entire life… lies! I'll repay you tenfold for what you have done to me._

"Goodbye, mother." He whispered to her. "I won't let you down."

Lucrecia hugged her son tightly and kissed his cheek. Then she disappeared the same way that she had come.

* * *

I don't get what's with Nefilim... (it means fallen one...)... don't ask... anyways... I'll try and finish Chap. 5 soon... k? Nando the RPS King... thx alot for the ideas... u r the best! 


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Nefilim stared at the place where his mother had been moments earlier.

Aeris couldn't believe her eyes. He had actually believed her! He really still did have some love in his heart. "So uh… now that you've met your mother, can we move on?"

The man nodded. "Yes."

"We still have some time before we have to leave." Aeris said.

"Leave? To where?"

"We've been talking about it this whole time and you don't know!" Aeris exclaimed, waving her arms in front of his face. "The Lifestream to Destructivus! The Promised Land!"

"Oh." Nefilim nodded. "Continue."

Aeris sat down and motioned for the man to do the same. Destructivus did as he was told and she began. "I'm sure you would like to know more about us Cetra before we go to the Promised Land?"

"Yes. Why is Jenova coming after the Cetra? Isn't your kind all dead? How can they be killed again?"

"Jenova has all her powers back. The last time AVALANCHE fought her, she was still weak from being buried underground for so long. She managed to cast a spell on the Promised Land so that anyone in there that dies, will be dead forever." Aeris look over at the silver-haired man. "That's why we need your help. Otherwise… we could just simply lock her away in the Promised Land."

Nefilim thought for a moment. _Cast a spell in the Promised Land? With the full power of the Cetra? How can that be? Could Jenova really be that powerful?_ "How can I help? I'm not powerful enough to even beat AVALANCHE! How am I supposed to be beat something as powerful as Jenova?"

"You _can _defeat Jenova, I'm sure you can." Aeris said. "The answer's in your heart."

"What answer in _what_ heart?" Nefilim scoffed. "I don't have one."

"Of course you do!" Aeris yelled, then sighed and shook her head. "And one more thing… before we go… you have to promise me one thing."

Nefilim nodded. "Whatever you want me to promise you."

"That you will try to not to listen to Jenova, whatever she does and that you will cooperate with _every _person I introduce you to." Aeris said.

"Alright, I promise." Nefilim said. "Let's go."

"Oh and one more thing… try not to get hurt. In the Promised Land, Jenova has made it so that anyone who dies there will be gone forever."

Nefilim nodded again. "Sure."

The Cetra exhaled. _Good… at least we got him on our side now._ She thought. "Nefilim… follow me."

With a wave of her hand the Lifestream let them out. The two stepped out and found themselves floating in mid-air. "Now close your eyes." She commanded.

Nefilim closed them. Suddenly, he felt faint, as if he were flying.

"Open."

He opened his eyes.

"Destructivus, welcome to the Promised Land."

* * *

Short chappie, I know... but I got writer's block right now. (I'll be fine soon... I mean come on... I wrote the entire _last_ chapter of this story this morning!) If you are wondering... LadyKadaj gave me the idea to use the name Nefilim (I replaced it with the one i used earlier), i changed it before it was too late 


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Vincent stared at the lid of his coffin. How long had he been here? He felt as if he had just fallen asleep.

_Ahh Lucrecia… I'm sorry I failed you… I killed Sephiroth instead of helping him. Forgive me, my love._ Vincent thought sadly, thinking back to the time that he and AVALANCHE were at the Northern Cave.

"_Vincent… do not be so sad…" _A voice called to him_. "I have seen my son."_

"Lucrecia!" Vincent sat up, but instead of doing so, he smashed his head onto the lid of the coffin. "S---!"

He heard a light chuckling. It was the voice of his loved one. _"Vincent… darling… do not worry about me any longer. Worry about your own life."_

"Lucrecia… I'm sorry… but I can't forget you!" He said, this time throwing aside the lid and then sitting up. "I love you…."

"_Vincent… look at yourself… think of the years you've slept away…" _the voice of Lucrecia seemed to sigh. _"Vincent you haven't failed me. You have never failed me. Sephiroth is fine now… he's with Aeris."_

"WHAT!" He yelled, struggling to get out of his coffin and slipped on the lid and went crashing into the floor. "S--- S--- S---! What the hell is wrong with me today!"

He heard the voice of Lucrecia laugh and his face burned. _"Vincent… calm down… you are distressed."_

He shook himself. "Sorry. Now… why is Sephiroth with Aeris? Didn't he kill her?"

"_He's learned. Vincent… there isn't much time. You must pass the message onto your friends."_

"You mean AVALANCHE?" Vincent asked.

"_Yes." _Lucrecia's voice paused. _"Tell them that Jenova is in the Promised Land."_

"WHAT!" He yelled again.

"_She is targeting the Cetra once again. Vincent… tell them… now… hurry…" _The voice of Lucrecia faded away.

"Lucrecia? Lucrecia? LUCRECIA!" Vincent looked around wildly. "Oh… I better them quickly."

He stood up and carefully stepped over his coffin lid and ran out of the mansion and into the night. He silently jumped over the roofs of houses and ran across the grass, watching the starry night sky.

"Ahhh… this is the good life." Barret stretched his large frame over the couch. "Beats kickin' Sephiroth's ass any day."

"Daddy… don't say bad words." Marlene scolded playfully.

Barret laughed and kissed Marlene's forehead. "I'm sorry, Marlene." He cooed.

Cloud and Tifa sat on the other couch, smiling. The four had settled together in a house in Kalm.

Barret turned on the TV. "Oh there's a load of c…" He stopped when Marlene gave him a look. "… dog poopie."

His adopted daughter gave a giggle when he said this. He gave a huge grin and continued flipping the channels.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Cloud stood up, and exited the room and went to the door.

He slowly opened it. "Hello, Cloud."

"Vincent?" Cloud's eyes widened in surprise. "What're you doing here? I thought you went back to your coffin in the Shinra Mansion."

Vincent had a grim look on his face. "Well, I got some bad news."

"Cloud, who is it?" Tifa called from the other room.

"It's uh… Vincent!" Cloud called back. "He's got some news!" To Vincent he said. "Come in, come in!"

Vincent stepped in and Cloud closed the door. "Thank you." He said politely.

"Tifa and Barret are in the other room." Said Cloud. "You can join them, I'll get you a drink. What do you want? Tea? Coffee? Soda?"

"Water." Vincent said and walked into the other room.

"Water?" Cloud stared. "Alright… whatever…"

As Cloud went to the kitchen, Vincent walked into the living room and sat down on a couch.

"Yo, Vincy." Barret grunted, still flipping through channels. "Ahh nuthin' but junk." He finally turned off the TV. "So wus the bad news?"

Vincent looked surprised. "How'd you know it was bad news?"

"Well… then you wouldn't come rushin' here. Ya'd take your sweet little time." Barret said.

"Barret!" Tifa admonished. "That's rude!"

"It's true…"

"To start of with…" Vincent took a deep breath. "Sephiroth's in the Promised Land with Aeris."

"WHAT!" Tifa yelled, her eyes widening.

"WUT!" Barret threw away the remote control. "WUT YA SAY!"

Cloud dropped the glass cup that he was pouring water into. It fell to the ground and shattered, sloshing water all over the floor. "WHY IS THE BASTARD WITH HER!" He yelled, and almost stepped on one of the broken pieces of glass and cut his foot.

He cursed and picked up the broken pieces, he headed for the trashcan but slipped on the water. More curses came from his mouth.

It would have been comical if it weren't such a serious moment. Barret, Tifa, and Vincent just stared at him. He threw away the broken pieces of glass and wiped up the spilled water, apologizing to Vincent who didn't respond.

"Cloud…" Tifa said.

"What?" He asked curtly.

"You missed a spot."

* * *

Yay... writer's block is gone... 


	8. Chapter 7

If my earlier readers are wondering, I changed Sephiroth's name to Nefilim! I decided to change it before it's too late! It was LadyKadaj's idea! And I think the name is awesome!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Oh hell… what happened here?" Nefilim said as his eyes ran over the Promised Land.

Dark storm clouds painted the skies. Dead trees were scattered across the ground and there were withered flowers that were once beautiful. Dead grass was scattered across the field.

In the distance, lightning flashed and there were rumbles of thunder, but no rain. It was hard to tell, but with his expert eyes, he could see that there was smoke in the sky. His heart sank at the sight. Guilt washed over him, this was how everybody else felt when he tried to destroy the world.

His heart ached. He watched the scene, but then turned away, not able to bear the pain any longer.

"Now do you understand?" Aeris asked softly, her eyes filling up with tears. "Before Jenova came, the sky was such a deep blue… it was so beautiful… like the ocean, and the flowers… they bloom so quickly here. Each of them had a different voice… I could talk to them, they were like the Planet. When I was bored, they would keep me company. Do you understand?"

She bent down, to pick up something. He looked at her, noticing that a tear had fallen from her eye. He watched as the droplet fell to the burnt ground. Almost immediately, that area turned green again. He watched in amazement, as the green spread, until it reached him... then it stopped. He bowed his head in shame. _I shouldn't have murdered... shouldn't have listened to Jenova. Look at me... even the purest do not except me... all but you, Aeris. _

"What are you picking up?" He asked stupidly, mentally kicking himself.

_Idiot! You shouldn't have asked so bluntly. Now you sound like a complete retard! _His mind yelled at him.

He watched as she opened her hand. In the center of her palm, was a tiny flower. It was all that was left from all the destruction. Only a small flower.

"It's… beautiful." He found himself confused at his own words. He had never noticed beauty… until now.

The flower was a deep red… almost like blood. It was only about the size of Nefilim's thumb. Aeris slowly got up and gently put the flower in his hand. He stared down at it.

"Even through so much death, there is still life." She whispered. "Do you know what this flower means?"

He thought for a while. "Hope." He answered. "There's hope even when the task at hand seems impossible."

- - - - -

"_Aeris!" Cloud yelled._

_The Cetra opened her eyes, and smiled at him. She seemed so calm and so happy. She looked so beautiful that moment, her emerald eyes staring back at him and the gentle look in them. _

_**Kill the Cetra girl. **Sephiroth's voice echoed in his mind. The evil man's will controlled him._

_He felt as if he were nothing but a puppet. He fought with all his will, but his hands disobeyed him. They drew his sword; he raised his arms, although his mind screamed for them to stop._

_He saw the confused look in the girl's eyes. They stared at him and he wanted to stop so badly. How could Sephiroth do this to him!_

"_Cloud, wut the hell are you doin'!" Barret screamed._

"_Put down your sword, Cloud." Nanaki had commanded._

"_SHIIIIT!" Cid shouted._

_Tifa screamed at him. He heard her voice above all of the other's. **What are you doing! **H__is mind yelled. **Listen to Tifa… put down the damn sword!**_

_He found himself in control of his body again and he immediately dropped the blade. He heard laughing in his head. **If you can't do this…**Sephiroth's voice taunted. **I'll do it myself!**_

_Just that instant, that fateful moment, the man dropped out of the sky… and stabbed Aeris._

_Just like that. It went through her like a knife on melted butter. Her eyes widened as the blade went through her back and out her chest. Then, they dulled, the last look she had given Cloud was a pleading one. _

_It seemed all in slow motion. Her body crumpled to the floor and the White Materia fell from her hands. Making a gentle 'plink' sound each time it bounced against the ground. Then it dropped into the lake and sank._

_The pain and sadness smashed into him, etching the moments into his heart. He wanted to scream and cry like a child, but didn't. He only watched helplesslyas she fell in front of his feet. _

_Then the anger came. It burned so much… entwining with the pain and screamed at him. If only he had screamed at her in warning… if only he had pushed her aside and taken the stab for her… _

"If only I could have changed that moment…" He whispered to himself.

"Cloud?" Tifa looked at him. "Are you alright?"

The blonde man felt tears burning in his eyes. He blinked a few times and kept them back. "Yes…" His voice cracked. "I'm fine."

Barret, Tifa, and Vincent all gave him weird looks. "Man… I don't believe that _he_ would be with Aeris! After all that bastard did to her! I know she's a nice girl and all and would forgive people for mistakes… but she forgave him for _killing her!_"

"Barret, calm down, maybe Sephiroth is really good. Aeris isn't stupid, she would know if he were still evil." Tifa said.

"Ehh… yer righ'…" Barret sighed. "But I haven't forgiven that bastard…"

Vincent quickly cut in. "Before we all get angry… I have some more news… Jenova is rampaging in the Promised Land."

The three others stared at the red-eyed man in alarm. "What?" Tifa gasped. "But we defeated her… at the Northern Cave, just before we fought Sephiroth."

"I haven't forgotten." Vincent said. "But remember… Jenova can regenerate. Haven't you noticed, Cloud? You heal very quickly for a person."

Cloud nodded. "The only problem is… how are we going to _get _to the Promised Land."

* * *

Thanks to all my loyal readers and EbonyWinds, Shale 101, Nando RPS King for reviewing! I really take my reader's opinions at heart! Thanks again! 


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Follow me, Nefilim." Aeris began to walk away.

He looked down at the flower that the Cetra had given him. He carefully pocketed it, and then raced after her.

The two walked together in the burnt fields. He watched as she finally stopped at an area and kneeled down.

She bent down and pushed in a part of the ground. The burnt area slid aside to reveal a dark hole.

He peered inside; it was a long dark tunnel that he couldn't see an end to. "_You want me to drop in **that**_?" He asked incredulously.

Aeris nodded. "Everyone is hiding underground, except a few scouts. You don't expect us to be waltzing around on land while Jenova's here? Quickly, before she comes and discovers our hiding place."

He shrugged his shoulders and took a deep breath. He then jumped in, watching in fear as the darkness engulfed him.

_She tricked me!_ Was his last thought.

-----

"Alright, we need Red, Yuffie, and Cid over here, immediately." Said Cloud. "Tifa, would you call Cid and get him to pick up Red and Yuffie?"

"Sure." Tifa picked up the phone and speed-dialed Cid's number. She waited patiently for Cid to pick up the phone because he would usually wait until the eighth ring.

"What the hell do you want?" A gruff voice came over the phone. "I f---in' swear, if you're one of those d--- telemarketers…"

"Cid?"

"Oh… uh is that you Tifa? Sorry about that. I've had a problem with telemarketers lately. Those d--- annoying callers never know when they've gone too far." Cid sounded embarrassed. "So, what did you want?"

"Would you pick up Yuffie and Red and get over here? Vincent has some urgent news." Tifa said.

"Vincy has urgent news! F---! He's always the bearer of d--- bad news!" Cid cursed. "Yeah, I'll get the two kids along the way here."

"Thanks, Cid, you're awesome."

"Yeah, yeah, right." Cid hung up the phone without saying a goodbye.

"Uh… bye?" Tifa said as she stared down at the phone. Then shook her head and hung it up.

Cloud looked at her intently. "Yeah, Cid's getting the two others right away." She said.

"Good."

-----

"F---in' d--- s---!" Cid yelled as he struggled to get his boots on. "Shera!" There was no response. "D--- it, Shera! I gotta get to Cloud's house! Urgent business alright!"

"Alright!" came Shera's voice from another room.

"Jeez, what the hell kind of urgent news does Vincy have for us? Especially at a time like this? We beat Jenova and that d---ed silver-haired mutant. What now?" He muttered, snapping on one of his boots. "Ah, hell!" He ran out the door with other boot half on.

He got to the Highwind, huffing and puffing. _Ain't young as I used to be._ He thought, as he puffed. He then climbed up the ladder quickly.

When he was about to reach the top, he felt his loose boot slip away. He cursed and looked down, his boot was heading straight down. "Ah, s---!" He yelled.

He grinned mischievously when he heard a yelp of pain and a string of curses. "Who's shoe is this!"

Cid only laughed.

Later…

When Cid finally managed to wrestle his boot back from a man who cursed at him at about a mile a minute, he found that he had wasted twenty minutes. He snapped on his other boot and climbed up the ladder as if he had a flaming-hot skillet right below his behind.

He finally got into the Highwind and went in. This time, without losing a boot. He passed each of his assistants, that each snapped a salute to him. He ignored most of them and power-walked to the steering wheel.

"Sir!" the pilot saluted.

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered, giving a weak salute back. "Get to Cosmo Canyon and pick up the kitty, then Wutai and pick up the kid."

"Yes sir." The pilot snapped another salute.

-----

"What is taking Cid so long! It's been twenty minutes since you called him! With his piloting, he shoulda been her ten minutes ago!" Cloud yelled, sitting back on the couch, next to Tifa.

"Well, you know Cid…" Barret sighed, leaning back into his couch, gently stroking Marlene.

-----

"Hey, kitty!" Cid smirked as Red stepped aboard the Highwind.

"My name is Nanaki. You may call me that or Red, but not kitty." Red grumbled, swishing his fiery tail about.

"Ahh, come on kitty! Let's go, we gotta get Yuff." Cid yelled good-humoredly. "Hey, kid, step on it!"

"YAAAAHHHHH!" Red screamed as he was thrown back against the wall.

"YEEEHAAAA!" Cid yelled, laughing. "Come on, cat, can't take a little speed!"

"Yes I can take a little speed." Red said, getting back up. "But this is just insane!"

The seasoned pilot just laughed.

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Ok... this chappie was kinda weird... but i'll try and finish the next one quickly! And still I've changed Sephiroth's name from Destructivus to Nefilim! 


	10. Chapter 9

If you are wondering, readers, Sephiroth's name is no longer Destructivus... LadyKadaj gave me the idea to use Nefilim and so I changed it before it was too late!

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**Chapter 9**

_She lied! She lied! _Nefilim's thoughts whirled in his head. _How could she do such a thing!_

"Hello." Said a familiar voice

The darkness was lifted.

He squinted as the light hit his eyes, nearly blinding him. He blinked a few times and waited for his eyes to adjust. "You know, Nefilim, you shouldn't be too quick to judge people." Aeris leaned over and looked at him, smiling.

-----

"Come on, kid, get on. We need to get to Kalm already. Before the year ends, please!" Cid sighed, as Yuffie slowly crawled on, looking miserable.

"Uggghhhh… not on this ship again! What now…" Yuffie asked Red. "And I'm not a kid, Cid! I turned eighteen a few months ago!"

"Since Cid has not told either of us, apparently, he doesn't know it either." Red said, lying down.

"Yeah, I f---in' don't!" Cid grinned. "Vincy's got bad news for us!" Looking over at the junior pilot, who was staring at them, he yelled. "What the f--- are you waiting for! Go already, dammit!"

The pilot jumped and began apologizing. "Y… yes… sir! Right… away, sir!"

-----

Ten minutes later…

"What the hell is wrong with Cid!" Barret yelled. "He's supposed to be here!"

"Maybe it's because Uncle Cid's delayed, daddy," Marlene said. "And please don't curse."

"Righ', righ'." Barret nodded.

There was a loud knock at the door. Tifa and Cloud both jumped up at the same time, then both burst out laughing. The two began arguing on who would go to the door. "I'll go, you went last time!" Tifa argued.

"No, no, I'll do it…" Cloud said.

"Would you both cut it out and get the damn door!" Barret shouted.

The two jumped and Cloud rushed to the door. He was about to open the door, then came three more impatient knocks. "Open the Cetra damned door, Cloud!"

"Whoa! Hold your chocobos, I'm getting the door!" Cloud undid the lock and jumped back as the door swung open. "Geez, Cid! Calm down!"

"Hey, Cloud!" Yuffie walked through the door, followed by Red.

"Hey!" Cloud said. "What's up, Red?"

"Nothing much." Red replied, swishing his tail around. He closed the door with a paw and looked up at the blonde-haired man. "Yuffie and I were wondering why you called us here? What bad news does Vincent have for us?"

"All in good time." He said. He wanted to speak to Cid, but found that she pilot had already stalked off to the living room.

"That was quite rude of him," Red commented. "Well, that's Cid for you. Let's getting the meeting started. He headed for the living room.

Both Yuffie and Cloud agreed, following the red beast to the other room.

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Sorry! Short chappie! Chappie 10 coming soon! 


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"Alright, so what kind of bad news does Vincy have for us today?" Cid asked, plopping onto a cushiony chair.

"Well… first things first. My name is Vincent, not 'Vincy' or 'Vince' or 'Vinny' or… you get the idea." Vincent said, looking extremely irritated.

"Sure, _Vinny_," Cid chuckled as a nerve in Vincent's jaw twitched. So tell us what's up, _Vince_. Sure it's not such bad news that it's so urgent is it, _Vincy_?"

Vincent gave an exasperated sigh and a look that said 'I-give-up'. "Alright… well… Sephiroth's in the Promised Land…"

"WHAT! I THOUGHT WE KILLED THAT MOTHERF---ER! HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO WE HAVE TO KILL BEFORE HE'S GONE FOR GOOD!" Cid screamed, jumping, up, then seeing Marlene, Barret and Red all give a look for say the f word, he sat down and turned red. "Heh, sorry about that. Got a little upset. You know…"

Red shook his mane and sighed. He was easily annoyed by people who had 'colorful' language. "I don't know how Shera stands your language sometimes, Cid. You do know quite a number of people find cursing quite unattractive."

"Do I look like a I give a f… sorry… care!" Cid yelled, "I swear, I'll throttle your little red neck!"

"Whoa!" Cloud cut in, watching s the two exchanged glares. "Hey… can we get something done without biting each other's heads off? Er… Vincent… you can continue."

Vincent nodded, looking relieved. "You guys didn't let me finish," He cast a look at Cid, who wilted under his gaze. "Did I mention that Aeris is with him? Yes… so we did kill Sephiroth… and apparently, Aeris must have forgiven him for murdering her…"

"Did she?" Cid asked vilely, "Now what the f… aggh… what's wrong with her mind?"

"But…" Vincent sighed, ignoring Cid's remark. "Not only that, but Jenova is also in the Promised Land.

"AH-HA!" Cid shouted, almost jumping up and down like a little kid. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! SEPHIROTH'S WORKIN TOGETHER WITH JENOVA TO _DESTROY_ THE PROMISED LAND! HE'S JUST WITH AERIS SO THAT HE CAN KILL HER AGAIN!"

"Well…" Red looked at Cid helplessly. "That's not just the thing we have to worry about right now. Remember, we need to help Aeris. How do we get _into_ the Promised Land?"

At this question, all the members of AVALANCHE exchanged glances and shrugs.

"Vincent… how'd you get your hands on this information?"

Vincent lowered his head, looking embarrassed. "I know, I might sound like a lunatic, but the spirit of Lucrecia told me. She said that she saw Sephiroth…"

"Ha… it kinda figures." Barret muttered, rolling his eyes. "Vincy was never quite the sane one…"

"Daddy!" Marlene looked at her father, "That's rude…"

"Barret!" Tifa shouted, slapping her forehead, "Oh… that's done it."

"Eh… sorry, Vince, man." Barret said, looking over at the red-eyed man.

Vincent merely grunted and shrugged. "It's not a problem. We need to get to the Promised Land. That is the most important issue at hand."

-----

"How'd you know that…" Nefilim asked, his eyes wide. "Can you read my mind!"

Aeris shook her head. "I saw the expression on your face, it was anger and confusion, the look you usually have when you've been betrayed."

The man felt guilty immediately and hung his head. "Sorry," He grunted. "I just thought…"

"I understand." Aeris smiled and patted his shoulder gently. " I know, you've been mistreated all your life."

"Was I?" He couldn't remember.

_A man, one whose face that Nefilim could not see, was laughing. All he could remember about the man was a white lab coat and long, oily, black hair._

"_Ahhh, yes. You, boy, come here." The man commanded._

_He was a little boy then… and usually when the man used that tone of voice; it meant he was going to get a shot. He hesitated…_

_A hand came and slapped him, causing him to stumble backwards, holding his cheek. Then a sharp pain ran through his arm, a needle plunged into his arm._

_He cried out, causing the mysterious man to laugh aloud. He then began to cry… and was beaten yet again…_

The silver-haired man clenched his fists. Again came the burning anger. He tried so hard to keep it back…

"Are you alright?" Aeris asked, her voice going high with fear.

_She is afraid of me…_ He thought and sighed. "I'm fine." He said sadly, examining his surroundings. He was in nothing but a lighted tunnel.

"Follow me… again." Aeris said cheerfully, the tone of her voice annoying him.

"This time it doesn't require falling forty-feet through a tunnel… does it?" Nefilim asked, giving a weird look that made Aeris giggle.

"It was thirty-feet… actually." Aeris smiled. "And you weren't free falling… it was just a really fast elevator. And no… you're not going to fall…"

"Alright."

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Yay... I updated! Thanks to LadyKadaj to use the name Nefilim instead of Destructivus. And if anybody is wondering... I _did_ change Sephiroth's name from Destructivus to Nefilim! 


	12. Chapter 11

**Oook... I found a person who would help me edit Identity... LadyKadaj! Thank you so so so so so so so much... you deserve lotsa hugs. Thanks (hugs LadyKadaj) for correcting this and adding humor into it!****

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**Chapter 11**

Nefilim was indeed lost. He had followed Aeris into an apparent maze of tunnels. Tunnels that split into two… no eight… No, wait! Was it thirteen? In fact, there were so many forks and twists that he lost track… Mind you, he was a SUPERSOLDIER but not even that could prepare him for the daunting task of navigating in a complex underground network of tunnels. Oh well, at least he knew now Jenova was probably worse off than him (Hey! She got no legs, and is probably wobbling around), and the thought strangely seemed to comfort him.

But first things first. Disgruntled and disoriented, as wave after wave of vertigoes threatened to wash over him (and boy, how he hated that feeling) he decided to calm down. Perhaps if he just relaxed and took a deep breath, he would wake up and find out it's all just a bad dream… Yeah… just another one of those dreams…

"Alright, just one more. Just this last one, I promise!" Aeris's annoyingly loud but cheerful voice rang out in front of him, jolting him back to cruel reality. And with that, she seemingly disappeared behind yet another tunnel.

Nefilim cursed silently. He hated it but knew he had little choice… The prospects of being lost in this god-forsaken mess didn't appeal to him, so he did what any other reasonable man would. He immediately hurried after her into yet another series of ugly, boring, similar looking tunnels. Well, it's not like he had a choice anyway…

He had to duck his head under an especially low ceiling section, but when he finally crossed through, he was relieved to note that the subsequent ceilings were now way above his head. Meaning he would no longer need to walk around with his head bent like a nincompoop. Thank the Lifestream for the smallest mercies in life!

When Nefilim finally took note of his bearings, he found himself in yet a wondrous sight. There, right in front of his eyes laid a whole city unknown yet familiar… it reminded him of the City of Ancients with buildings built in an eerily identical fashion. Small, delicate and shaped like shells. Yet tough and meant to last till the end of time (since the City of Ancient in the Planet stood the test of time, Nefilim thought it safe to assume)

"The hidden city…" he whispered in awe, not quite believing his eyes. Whoever would have thought the Cetras dumb and unoriginal enough to recreate the exact same structures they had lived in all their mortal years on the Planet?…

-----

Cloud paced around the room.

"Now how do we get into the Promised Land? How do we get into the Promised Land? How do we …" he chanted, apparently to himself.

"Well, first of all… stop pacing!" Cid yelled. "It's already so f---in' annoying watching your damn spiky hair wavin' to and fro and all… And second, stop talking to yourself! "

Cloud stopped in mid-stride and narrowed his eyes. He was about to retort something caustic but seemed to think better of it and settle for an apology instead.

"Sorry." The words came out albeit reluctantly.

"Hey, let's not argue. It won't help us figure this out." Tifa said, being the ever-present mediator.

"Oh yeah yeah…" Cid grumbled, sounding suspiciously insincere. "Sorry."

Yuffie sighed and stretched. "Could we _please_ dispense with the apologies? We're getting nowhere with them."

Red looked up. "_At least one human here has sense and how strange that it happens to be the youngest one too_." he thought, before adding. "Think... a place that Jenova could go, without being spotted by humans. A place that would grant her enough power from the Planet, such that she could open a portal with it to the Promised Land."

Barret shrugged his enormous shoulders. "Beats me. I ain't no damned psychic."

"Yeah, neither am I nor are little kitties like you." Cid said.

The red beast instantly shot up. "I am not a kitty!" He exclaimed indignantly, tossing his red mane for emphasis.

"Oh for Cetras' sakes," Yuffie gasped. "Do you realize what Red is saying?"

All of them, save Red, shook their heads causing Yuffie to give an exasperated look.

"Man, don't tell me Red and I are the only sensible ones around here?" She tilted her face heavenwards as if implying it was _their_ fault. "Red is implying that _it's the Northern Crater, dammit!_" When she uttered her curse word, it was inflected with a "Cid-ish" tone.

"OH SHIT!" Cid shouted, causing everyone to flinch.

"I'm never goin' back to dat screwed up place." Barret declared, crossing his arms stubbornly. "I still think back to the time Old Sephy lost his mind."

"Barret is right. I'm not going back there either." Cid looked around, for once to his credit, making a sentence that did not contain any curse words.

"I still get nightmares about that day Meteor was practically destroying all of us, and Holy wasn't doing much. In fact, half the time I'd be thinking Holy was only making matters worse, and if the Lifestream hadn't come we would all be toasted."

"Well you're still alive, ain't you?" Barret retorted, his mouth twisting into a toothy grin. "Aww… imagine… poor lil' ol' Cid getting nigh'mares."

Cid stared at Barret for a long time. When the meaning of the sentence finally sunk in, he turned beet red and chewed angrily on his cigarette. Gradually realizing that he had nearly bit through the entire thing, he cursed and dropped it on the floor, and started to put it out much to the anger of Tifa.

"CID!" The brown haired girl yelled, rising from her seat. "How many times have I told you! Don't put out the cigarettes in the carpet! It doesn't come off!"

"Sorry, honestly sorry," the blonde apologized, but began to reach for his cigarette pack to light another cigarette. His expression darkened when he didn't find one, and he reached into another pocket.

"Now, where did I put those?" he brightened when he finally found the pack in his back pocket. He was fishing out another cigarette, when Tifa slapped his hand away.

"Give me THAT!" she shouted and confiscated the entire pack away from the man. "No more smoking until this meeting's over!"

"AWW, Tifa! C'mon, don't be so harsh!" Cid whined. "Just another one?"

The brown haired woman shook her head. "Not until the meeting's over."

Cid opened his mouth to protest, but Cloud cut in.

"Um… anyway. Shouldn't we all at least go to the Northern Crater…?" His suggestion was met with dark looks and glares. "…Just to see if it's the entrance to the Promised Land? For Aeris's sake? Guys…"

At the very mention of Aeris, one by one, they agreed.

"I guess," Barret agreed. "Just for Aeris, so we can get da bastard away from her, and mebbe for good this time round." When he cursed with the batard (old habits die hard, yeah!), he cast an apologetic puppy dog look to his adopted daughter, who giggled before she finally turned away.

"Yeah, you bet." Cid said, looking sad, actually not over Aeris but over his cigarettes. "I'll do it for that girl, heck she didn't even stand a chance when she died."

"Yes." Vincent nodded. "Very well… I guess that settles it then." He rose.

The rest of the party followed suit.

"Meeting's officially _over_ then, I guess," Cid stated loudly, glancing many times at his cigarette pack before snatching it back from Tifa, who yelped at him angrily. "So I'll have this back." He hooted happily, taking out a cigarette and finally puffing away.

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Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Thanks so so much! And sorry I haven't updated for a while! When school starts I won't be able to update very much! 


	13. Chapter 12

This was the weirdest chappie ever and LadyKadaj... you did a lovely job on correcting this:) Thanks so much! Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing!

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Chapter 12

"So, what do you think?" Aeris asked in her usual chirpy voice, while prancing around like a nervous schoolgirl.

"Not bad, quite a place you have here." Nefilim replied truthfully, as he gazed around. "Although why are the building structures so similar to those in the City of Ancients?"

Aeris shrugged. "I'm not quite sure either," she said, then quickly changed the topic. "So ummm… Nefilim?"

"Ummm…?" Nefilim was more apparently more interested in the surroundings than in making small talk.

"Do you want to, say, take a look at my place or something?"

"What alternatives do I have?"

"Well, you could choose to look at the accommodations they have prepared for you."

From Aeris's tone, he could tell whatever it was,it wasn't going to be pleasant. Nefilim shrugged. He had little choice. Fine then.

"I guess your place then."

"My place?" Aeris smiled. "My, my. Being a perfect gentleman, aren't you?"

I am? He thought to himself, feeling totally confused. Outwardly, he gave what he hoped wasn't an overeager smile and said. "Uh… sure…"

That single smile totally did it! Aeris sighed in true girlish fashion. Her platinum haired companion was so handsome, and yet seemed to be unaware of his charms. He was often shy and awkward especially in situations where he had to deal with others, as Aeris herself had just recently discovered. Indeed, the man standing before her right now was nothing, nothing at all like the cold-blooded crazed murderer he once was. Was it possible there was another side to the man? A softer, gentler side to his nature waiting to surface? Well, if this was it, Aeris definitely had no complaints.

"Well, come on then!" She grinned and skipped away happily, leaving a confused Nefilim staring after her.

He followed uncertainly after the girl and into the city, and watched as Aeris skipped down the road, greeting every person she passed. It seemed that wherever she went, she brought a smile to everyone's face.

But as he came along, he saw each of their expressions change from happiness into suspicion, anger, confusion, and hate, the smiles sliding off their faces like slime.

He lowered his head, disgraced. He felt guilty recognizing some of the people he had murdered. Sadness ached in his heart and he felt tears burn in his eyes. He hardened his gaze and the tears went away.

_Don't cry, you'll look like an idiot!_ His mind shouted at his eyes. _What the hell! You have no feelings! NO FEELINGS!_

Another passing person gave him the finger and yelled. "Not so tough without your damn sword now are you!"

His head sunk even lower and he wouldn't look up. Another man screamed. "F--- you, killer!"

A woman swung her purse at him, which he narrowly dodged and screamed with both hate and fear. "Keep away from me! Don't touch me!"

Aeris looked back and saw what each of the people were doing to Nefilim. She watched as his head sunk even further as his face turned into a complete mask of sadness.

People began to gather and form a ring around him. Nefilim wanted to break through, but the people held him back. They began to circle him, going slowly at first, then dizzyingly fast. "MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER!"

"NO!" she screamed, but her voice was lost in the chanting crowd.

She watched helplessly as people threw things at the silver-haired man. All he did was bow his head and accept each blow they gave. "NEFILIM RUN!" she screamed, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Nefilim merely watched as they chanted. He watched as the ring moved quickly around him, as blurs of people's faces passed him. Things from all over hit him. Finally, a purse hit him in the head so hard that he fell to the ground.

He heard a child scream with fear. "MOMMY! IT'S HIM! AWAHHHH!" And the wails were included along with the chants.

The ring tightened around him. Nefilim looked around, watching as they screamed words of hate. His ears began to hurt as the people roared. He covered his ears and writhed on the floor, their words echoing through his mind.

… _MURDERER, MURDERER, MURDERER…_

…_Keep away from me! Don't touch me!…_

…_F--- you, killer!…_

…_MOMMY! IT'S HIM! AWAHHHH!…_

…_MURDERERMURDERERMURDERERkeepawayfrommedon'ttouchmef---youkillerMOMMYIT'SHIMAWAHHHHnotsotoughwithoutyourswordareyou!…_

He wanted to scream, the words hurting his mind. Then came only one image, the image of Aeris, and she was smiling at him.

_My place?My, my. Being a perfect gentleman aren't you?…_

"NEFILIM RUN!" A voice called.

_Aeris…_ He thought.

…_The burning heat of flame, as it came around him. He pierced his sword through the brunette haired man, who stood in front of his daughter, screaming. _

_He laughed as he his sword cut deep into the man. The man fell forward, his blood gushing forth._

_Blood covered his hands… the sweet smell of blood… so sweet…_

_YOU ARE A MURDERER! _His mind yelled.

He gave an anguished cry and shoved through the chanting crowd. And fled down the street, tears of anger and sadness streaking his cheeks.

Aeris watched sadly, tears streaming down her face as the crowd gave chase. She caught a mere glimpse of him and saw his tears. "Oh Nefilim…" she began to cry. "I'm sorry!" she turned and dashed after the crowd.

Nefilim watched as the group of people dashed ahead of him and blocked his path. Two large, burly men leaped on top of him and began to punch him with their large hairy fists. He could have easily lifted them off and throw them into the crowd, but that would have definitely provoked more people and started a large scale fight.

_Calm yourself. Take the blows, do not let Aeris down._ He thought.

"You damn bastard! You ain't so tough are you!" One of his attackers yelled, leg kicking at Nefilim's face.

He felt his nose smash then the blood came. It flowed down from his nostrils and into his nostrils. So much blood… the smell of blood sickened him and he wanted to vomit…

_Such sweet smell of blood…_

He watched as the others joined in the fray. Smashing their hands and feet into him, doing large amounts of damage. And crushing him under their weight…

He felt a few ribs of his ribs crack as waves of agony tore through his nervous system. His brain screamed at him to retaliate; to fight back. But his will, conscience, and the memory of Aeris held him back.

People began to tear at him. His shirt became shredded until it was nothing but a mere piece of rag that hung off of him.

"Sonuvabitch!" Another man shouted, stomping him in the chest. "Enduring aren't you! Taste this!"

Nefilim watched as the man's fist come at him. Other blows became dull thuds. The fist connected with his face and everything went black.

_I'm sorry Aeris…_Was his last thought.

"NEFILIM!" Aeris looked down at where Nefilim laid, unconscious.

People still beat at the unconscious body and cursed at him. Even the people who had been so nice to her, were killing the poor man.

"STOP!" a voice screamed.

Everyone had stopped, each of them in mid-punch or kick. They all stared at her. Her hand had reached for her mouth. Was it her that screamed? She couldn't believe it… But she cleared her throat and looked over at each and everyone of the people. "Please," she begged. "Stop. I know you all may hate Sephiroth…"

People hissed angrily at the name and some exchanged dark looks. Aeris took a deep breath and began again. "I know you may all hate him, but he's changed!" Many snorts followed what she had just said. "Didn't you see? That when you beat him down, did he even fight back? Nope, not even once!" Whispers and gasps followed her statement.

"Aeris, we know you see the best in people, but HIM!" a man yelled. "Him! Of all people? A murderer? _Our_ murderer! _Your_ murderer! How can you judge your _own_ murderer this way?"

"But you all once admired him! You all admired the Great ShinRa General Sephiroth…" Aeris was again cut off by boos and yelling. "SHUT UP!" she screamed; everyone was silent again. "You _did_ admire him! Until he burned down Nibelheim. But do you really believe that the _real_ General Sephiroth would do something like that?"

A woman snorted haughtily. Aeris looked around, the people's bellicose expressions told her that they still weren't convinced.

"Are you implying that an exact copy of Sephiroth did those deeds?" the woman who had snorted asked. People snickered and some even hooted with laughter.

Aeris shook her head in desperation. Would these people _not_ listen? "NO!" she shouted, causing many people's eyes to widen in surprise. "Won't any one of you listen! Jenova manipulated him so that he would go around murdering! He was lied to his entire life! Sephiroth didn't even know who his real mother was then! Back then; he honestly believed his mother was Jenova! _She_ made him do all that and summon Meteor!"

A child wailed at the volume of her voice. The cry was quickly silenced by the mother. A bold man stepped up, looking around. "Well yeah?" he sneered. "Just because _he_ was manipulated still doesn't change the fact that he murdered us… and the rest of us! Do you think that blood would not be by _his_ hands? It was _him_ that did the deeds, so it is _him_ that pays for them!"

Aeris sighed in frustration, wiping away tears of frustration that burned her cheeks. "Then… none of you are any better than him! As killing him would make you all murderers! You would be lowered to his level! It makes you ALL MURDERERS!" Aeris shrieked. "GO! MURDERERS! YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE HERE!"

The girl was mortified at the words that came out of her mouth. Whatever happened to the gentle, demure Aeris who had never raised her voice?

One by one, people emptied the streets, walking away with their heads down as if they were children that had just been lectured by their parents.

When the street was finally clear, she ran over to Sephiroth and knelt down next to him. Looking at the damages that the mob had inflicted upon him. She gently touched his bruised and bloody face. "Nefilim…" she whispered, cradling his unconscious body and began to cry.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"So we getting' on the Highwind or wut?" Barret asked, eyeing the rest of AVALANCHE. "I mean I ain't sittin' my butt all day after we decided that we goin', righ'?"

There were a few shrugs and a few weak nods. Yuffie thought back to the days of when Meteor was around and gave a weak shake of her head. "Even though you guys decided that we're going… I don't want to be bent over the side of the Highwind again… trying not to lose my lunch."

"Well that's you! And it just might not be your lunch too!" Cid grinned when Yuffie gave him a glare. "What? Anyways… it's your f… er… freakin' bad stomach!" He began to hop from one foot to another, the thought of the Highwind excited him. "Ahh! It'll be like the old days, ya know? With us all together and all." He added his last words with a puff of smoke, winning disapproving looks from everyone, and a lasting glare from Tifa.

"Uh… yes… very much so Cid. Just calm down before you… er 'wet your pants with excitement', can I say?" Red said, causing Cid to stop hopping and give him a dark look.

"Yeah! We're definitely going to help Aeris!" Cloud nodded, his spikes waving around. He seemed to be the only one with real enthusiasm about going to the Promised Land. He got weird looks and added uncertainly. "Er… aren't we?"

Cid puffed out more smoke. "Course. That's what we just decided on right? Save the damn kid and then we back to normal life? So let's move ass and get the damn thing over with. Go check out Northern Crater, if there's no way to the Promised Land… oh well! At least we'll get a few days off… eh?"

"_No_." Tifa said with disdain. "Because Aeris is _our friend_ and she might be in danger. There are no few days off when our friends are in danger. And as you said, let's see if Northern Cave is our place. If not, we'll just keep searching."

The AVALANCHE members were so caught up with saving Aeris that they did not notice Marlene standing to the side, lips trembling and tears forming in her eyes.

"Daddy… are you going to leave me here again?" Marlene asked, her voice quiet as she tried to contain her tears.

Barret looked sadly down at his adopted his daughter. His heart filled with regret and guilt. _Man… what is wrong wit' me? Dyne told me to take good care of her… is this taking good care of her? Leaving her with Elymra all the time? I barely got a chance to play with her when Meteor came… and now I'm rushin' off again… _

He bent down and touched her head. "Darling, I… I'll be back soon alrigh'? And then after that I'll never go adventurin', ok? I wouldn't leave you, but this time Aeris is in danger. You remember her? The flower girl?"

"Yes daddy… I remember her." Marlene replied, being an obedient child. She tried hard not to cry.

Barret patted her head and hugged her hard. "C'mon girl. Daddy won't be gone long. When I'm back, I'll play with you everyday and teach you all I know… alrigh'?" Marlene gave a sullen nod and Barret planted a wet kiss on her forehead.

"Barret… why don't you bring your kid along?" Cid asked.

The large man shook his head. "I can't. I'll just put her in danger. If she gets hurt… how can I tell Dy…" He quickly broke off, not wanting to tell Marlene her real parents.

"Daddy… who's that?" Marlene asked.

There was an awkward silence after the little girl asked the question. "Ah… you know what? I think I'm gonna get some fresh air." Cid began inching out.

"Yeah, me too." Yuffie said, standing up and began inching out with Cid. "Why don't you uh… spend some time with Marlene."

Tifa cast the two a stern look. "Barret, maybe it's time to tell the truth."

"But…" Barret's voice cracked and his eyes showed sadness. "Maybe later…" He shoved his hands in his pockets, stood up, and began filing out.

"Barret!" Tifa grabbed his sleeve and tugged him back. "If you don't tell her, I will!"

Marlene gave a frightened look. "Daddy… what's going on? …"

Barret wouldn't look into the girl's eyes. "Marlene… the truth is…"

"I'm outta here." Yuffie and Cid said in unison and bolted out of the room.

"Yeah… come on guys." Cloud began walking out, Red got off the floor and followed him, the rest of AVALANCHE followed suit.

The large man watched all his friends file out of the room. When he thought they were out of earshot, he pulled his hands out of his pockets. They felt heavy by his side, he felt like the world's biggest idiot. "Marlene," He began. "The truth is… I'm not your real daddy…"

- - - - -

"Is he alright?"

Aeris looked up from her crying. There Ifalna and Gast stood, looking at her sympathetically. "Oh mom… dad…" She whispered. "They beat him… and he's sorry for all he's done… and they still beat him!" She began to cry harder. "Look at what they've done to him!"

"Aeris, people get angry. Do not blame them for their anger. Anger is something inborn in all of us. It was also what caused Sephiroth's insanity. You of all people should understand." Gast said, laying his hand on her shoulder.

"But he didn't deserve this!" Aeris cried, her voice filled with emotion, she tried hard to stop crying, but her eyes betrayed her.

She was not sure why it tore a hole in her heart. This person she was crying over was Sephiroth, her very own killer.

_But he isn't the same person. The Sephiroth that killed me was insane. This one is gentler, kinder._ Her mind said.

_He still murdered you._ Another part of her argued.

"No! It's not true!" She cried.

Her parents stared at her with weird expressions on their faces. Aeris sighed. She was talking to her own self. Was she going insane? First crying for her own murderer and now talking to herself?

"Aeris, come on. Let's get Sephiroth into the house and then we can treat him." Gast said, reaching down towards the body of the silver-haired man.

"NO!" She yelled out, causing both her parents to flinch. In a quieter voice, she explained. "No dad. He can't be moved. He's really hurt, if we move him, we'll just damage his body more."

Gast sat down next to his daughter. "If we don't move him, he'll die." He said, his voice hard. "So come on, let's get him out of here, please sweetheart?"

Aeris took a deep breath and finally agreed, standing up with her father. She nodded to her parents and together, the three of them gently lifted the silver-haired man and took him down the street into their house.

* * *

Oooh... poor Barret... and poor Sephiroth :(... and anyways... thanks to everyone who reviewed and read this, and to LadyKadaj who took time to correct this... and OMG! Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is out! 


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Marlene stared up at the large man she called dad. "Daddy… what do you mean?…" A look of utter confusion came across her face.

"Marlene… I… I said… I said I ain't your real daddy." Barret said, scratching nervously at his chin, averting his eyes.

The little girl stared up at Barret for a long time, then she said slowly. "Who is my real daddy?" Her voice was soft and she sounded hurt. "Daddy… am I one of those kids who's real parents don't want them?" Her voice became high pitched and scared.

"No… no… it ain't like that." The man began to rib at his machine gun arm… an old habit of his. "Marlene… your real mommy and daddy loved you a lot…"

Her eyes began to fill up with tears again. The droplets threatened to overflow. "Then… why… why… why aren't I with my real mommy and daddy?" Her voice began to go soft and she began to hiccup.

Barret drooped; he knew that he would have to tell her. Even if he didn't tell her now… he would have to tell her later. She would ask when she was old enough. "Girl… your real daddy's name was Dyne and your mommy's was Eleanor. Your daddy was my… best friend. He and I would do everything together, but one day. Your daddy and I were out of our village, Corel. When we came back, we found ShinRa attacking Corel. They killed almost everyone in Corel, and that's how your mommy… passed on. We tried to stop them, but the hit us with bullets. We dodged them, but Dyne slipped and he almost fell, but I grabbed his hand. ShinRa shot at us again, and they hit. They got me in the right hand and Dyne in the left; your daddy fell off the cliff. After getting hit in the arm, I had to get surgery and get my gun arm attached." He stopped, it was hard for him to continue, and he could feel the pain come back to his heart.

"Is that how my daddy died?" Marlene asked, touching her adopted father's arm.

He wanted to say yes, and not let Marlene know the truth. He wanted to never tell, the pain would be too great, but he had to continue on. Dyne told him not to tell Marlene, but he his love for Marlene was to great for him to lie to her. "I thought your daddy died that day, but he hadn't. The next time, when I went to Gold Saucer, I was accused of murder, because some man with a machine gun arm killed a whole bunch o' people in the Battle Arena. But it wasn't me. I got sent down to Desert Prison, and then, I found your daddy there. He hadn't died from the fall, and he also got a machine gun arm attached to his arm… but it was his left arm. He wasn't the same as before… he had gone mad when he fell." He paused again, letting his adopted daughter digest the information. "Then… we had a fight." Marlene watched him with wide eyes. "I won, and I seemed to have beat some sense into 'im. He told me that he loved you… and he loved your mommy too, but she died. He couldn't believe that you were already four. The last time he saw you was when you was only a baby." he sniffed, feeling tears falling down his cheeks; he wiped them away with his left arm, then he took something from his left pocket. "He wanted me to give you this. It was Eleanor's." he opened his large hand, inside was the pendant that Dyne had given him. It had never left his left pocket since.

Marlene took the pendant, and her tiny fist closed around it. She picked it up and stared at it. "This was my mommy's?" She asked, tears making their way down her cheeks, she saw Barret nod, and had a question. "Daddy… I have a question."

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"When Corel was in trouble… was it you who saved me?" When Marlene asked, Barret gave a troubled look.

"I uh…" Barret began… then stopped. He cleared his throat and started again. "Yes… it was me… your daddy told me… to take care of you and all… and I couldn't refuse him…"

Before he could understand why, Marlene wrapped her little arms around his large waist. Her arms were not long enough to go all the way around. Barret gently hugged her back, trying not to crush her with his heavy frame.

"Daddy…" she murmured into his torso.

"Yeah, Marlene?"

"Even though you're not my real daddy, inside our hearts, you really are my true daddy. You were the one who saved me, raised me, you took care of me, and you give me your love. You are my true daddy!" She said, and gave a small childish smile.

Barret couldn't help but smile back. Even though it was only child's talk, it was the most important thing that Barret had ever heard in his life. He hugged his daughter tighter. Tears ran down his face, but these were not tears of sadness, but of joy. He had never been this happy for a long time.

From the other room, all the party members watched in awe. Cid was making quiet sniffing noises and Yuffie accused him of crying, but the seasoned pilot denied all accusations.

"That was the most touching thing I've ever seen in my life." Yuffie said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Gosh, I never knew that Barret was so… emotional… and poor Marlene… but I'm glad that Barret told her the truth…"

Cid sniffed again, brushing his eyes of what he said was "annoying pieces of f---in' dirt and nuthin' more." He smiled and murmured to himself. "You go man, you go man."

Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances. Tifa gave a small smile and wiped away tears of her own. Cloud smiled back, unsure of why his stomach had fluttered when she smiled.

AVALANCHE continued to watch the scene of Marlene and Barret, and for once, all of them felt at home.

-----

Aeris watched as Gast examined Sephiroth's body and made frowns or shook his head. "How is he, dad?" She asked, still wiping away remnants of her tears. She tried to sound strong, but her voice trembled and gave her true feelings away.

Professor Gast was silent for a moment. "I'm not absolutely sure how he is… except for the fact that he has broken at least two ribs. He is bruised quite badly and he has suffered a mild concussion," he paused, Aeris's heart sunk like a stone. "But," she looked up, hopeful. "Sephiroth is enhanced with Jenova cells. As you know, Jenova cells are programmed to regenerate and heal itself ten times faster than a normal human. I'm sure he'll be up and going in a few weeks."

"But his ribs need to be set in place!" Aeris said, hoping she didn't sound to eager to help Sephiroth.

Gast gave a small smile. "No. Jenova cells are… can we say… amazing. Each of them have minds of their own… they can reconstruct the body back to almost exactly as before. Take Jenova, for example. When the Cetra locked her away, she was mortally wounded. When Sephiroth freed her, she was still injured… a few months later, when AVALANCHE fought her, she was at almost full power with Jenova SYNTHESIS."

Aeris felt her hopes rising. "So Sephiroth will get better?" she said brightly.

Her father laughed. "I see that Sephiroth grew on you pretty quickly. That boy… I knew him when he was a little boy, quite nice once you get to know him."

Aeris's cheeks flushed red when her father said this. She thought back to when Sephiroth smiled, how the smile had brightened and changed his face so much. She found her father grinning at her with a sparkle in his eyes. She turned even redder.

_Stop it!_ Her mind yelled. _Stop acting like a school girl!_

Gast began to laugh. "You know, all the girls who see the 'Great Sephiroth' swoon before him." His eyes twinkled merrily and with a glint of mischief. He began to laugh at the expression on his daughter's face.

"Dad!" Aeris gave an offended look. "I'm not _swooning_ before him! He's only a friend!"

"You know… I wouldn't really mind if you two started dating. Heck I would probably like him as my son-in-law." Gast pushed the joke further.

Aeris groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Dad! I already told you! We're only friends! There's going to _be _nothing more than friendship! We're going to defeat Jenova, I go my way and he goes his way!"

The professor grinned. "Oh _sure_. You go your ways… your paths _entwined_." Gast teased and Aeris gave a sigh of exasperation. The professor's face turned serious. "Seriously, Aeris. You're twenty-three now. You need someone to take of you sooner or later."

"'Course I have someone to take care of me," she said flatly. "I have you."

Gast sighed. "Aeris, you know what I mean. You're growing up, you know. What about Zack or… Cloud?"

Aeris fought back tears. The pain that Zack left her with still burned in her heart… and the image of Cloud, tears streaming down his face as she laid on the ground, dying. It just couldn't be same as before. "No dad. Zack wasn't the one for me… and neither is Cloud. Zack… he's better off with another girl and Cloud… he should be with Tifa or someone that can take care of him. Dad… maybe I'm just the kind that'll be alone for forever."

The professor gave a tired look and didn't argue. "Come now, let's change the subject. Perhaps it is time you get some rest, being up and about all the time. If you don't be careful, you'll tire yourself to death… and there'll be no second chance after death here."

Aeris sighed, she knew not to argue back. Anyways, she was tired. She headed for her bedroom, rubbing her fatigued eyes.

-----

The next day…

"Come on, people! Let's get a damn move on!" Cid yelled, tapping his foot, and watching as everyone got on the Highwind with packs. He nodded as they trudged a tad faster. "That's more like it!"

When everyone finally got all their gear loaded, only one question was unanswered. Would Marlene come? "Hey, your girl coming or not?" Cid asked, looking over at his large friend, Barret.

" 'O 'course she is." Barret said, beaming. "I'll get her, be righ' back."

The large man walked back into the house ad looked around for his daughter.

Cid climbed straight up the ladder to the Highwind (without losing his shoe of course) and commanded his assistants to start the engines. Loud rumblings echoed through Kalm.

The people of Kalm came out and watched in awe. Many came and others charged toward them, asking for autographs. Barret came out, carrying a tired-looking Marlene.

"Come on, let's get outta here!" Cloud yelled, as the people began to swarm around them. "Excuse us please! Please out of the way! This is urgent!"

One reporter broke through the swarm and ran up to Cloud. "What is the urgent business? Is the world in danger again? Can you save us?"

"Whoa! Slow down!" Cloud yelled and shoved the man out of the way, who went down cursing.

The rest of AVALANCHE ran up the ladder as people began to close in. Barret, holding Marlene, scrambled up the ladder. Most of the members of AVALANCHE were half way up when the Highwind began to rise up.

"DAMN IT CID!" Barret bellowed. "MARLENE IS HERE! STOP THE DAMN SHIP!"

"SORRY!" Cid yelled from inside the Highwind, loud enough for everyone to hear. "BUT I'M NOT LETTING THOSE GUYS SCRATCH MY BABY!"

"STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE HIGHWIND! SHE'LL BE FINE! WORRY ABOUT _OUR_ LIVES!" Cloud shouted over the rumble of the engines, turning back to the rest of Avalanche, he said. "The only thing we can do now is climb!"

Red was having the most trouble going up the ladder, mostly because he his four legs weren't trained to do such things. "I hate this, I hate this." Yuffie muttered, right under him. "Hurry up Red! I think I'm going to be sick!"

Cloud made a noise. "It's fine if you're going to be sick… just don't get sick on me!"

Vincent, who was the highest up, swung himself up and onto the deck. Red was having trouble even getting up and began to howl.

"SHUT THE F--- UP!" Cid screamed from the inside of the ship.

"Many apologies. I do this when I'm very scared and I can't… howl stop it!" Red said over his howls.

Vincent grabbed Red by the right front leg and pulled him up. Red's howling stopped and Yuffie came next, looking very green indeed. Then Cloud, who pulled himself up and helped Tifa up.

Then Barret scrambled up, clutching a very disturbed-looking Marlene tightly with one arm. "Damn! I'm never doing that again!" he huffed, and patted the shaking Marlene.

Cloud drew in the ladder and nodded to the group. "Come on guys, let's get in before one of us falls off from this crazy flying."

Everyone agreed.

* * *

Everyone, I know there are some mistakes, but that's because LadyKadaj's not responding to my emails. I don't know why. So I'm looking for another person to correct my stuff. 


	16. Chapter 15

She hovered over the ground, as her large tentacles passed over the fresh green grass, they wilted and turned black. Turning her face towards the sky, she admired each tendril of smoke as they drifted into the air and the baby blue sky.

She turned her head back towards the area of the burning and smirked. How those Cetra had deserved it. She nearly shivered with excitement thinking back to how the Cetra had tried to fight back and how she snapped each of their tiny little bones and threw them into the fire.

_Ahh how beautiful fire is…_

How she had laughed, as each of them screamed in agony and begged the Planet to end their pains. They had died screaming.

She began to laugh again, how funny it was, to have somebody die screaming. How their last cries stick in their throats as their life was extinguished. She sniffed, her nose taking in the putrid smell of burning flesh. How sweet the sent was to her nose.

Aah yes, afterwards, she would soon fish their bodies out of the fire and slice off their heads (if it already hadn't fallen off) and fashion them as trophies… perhaps even to play a little catch with the other Cetra…

_The other Cetra…_

Her eyes flashed in anger and annoyance, then the feeling dissipated almost as quickly as it had come.

_Those damn Cetra._ She thought. _Where do they hide now?_

It was too much like the last time she had dealt with those damned "protectors of the Planet". Did they think they were special? Given "powers" and all.

She was about to throw a fit, but she managed to calm herself before she stooped to that level.

_Raging, storming, and destroying will not find the Cetra. _She reminded herself. _Calm yourself. It takes patience and hard work to find them…_

And when she found those Cetra, she would take her time, breaking every last one of them. Oh yes… she—

Some presence was near. She quickly did a three hundred sixty degree scan. Nothing. How could it be? What dared to spy upon her! She searched everywhere and came with the same results.

Then she noticed. The presence… was so… familiar. Ah yes… the foolish human general that thought himself her son.

_Son? Is that you? _She attempted to communicate with the presence, making her tone sickly-sweet.

She hated to be so sickly-sweet and ickly-poo and how she hated to poise as a human weakling's mother, but it was necessary. The human was a child of the Planet, and his blood was needed to summon Meteor.

She almost laughed. Sephiroth. The strategy genius, yet so gullible and foolish enough to fall for a simple trick. Either he was just plain stupid or… just desperate. It didn't matter to her. He was the perfect puppet.

_Speak to me, son! _She thought, her voice giving a fake squeak of joy. _You know how much mother loves you! It would pain me so much if you did not respond._

She waited. Only silenced answered her call to her human "son".

_Son?_

Still nothing.

_SON!_

She began to scream. Her voice terrible and high-pitched. Her cry was so powerful and loud that life miles from her wilted and died.

She had lost her precious puppet to those damn Cetra!

-----

_Son? Is that you?_

Who was that, speaking to him? His thoughts were fuzzy and unfocused in his head, but he knew that voice from somewhere. It was so familiar and it was a female speaking… just **who was it**?

Wait… she had called him 'son'. It did not sound like Lucrecia… so was it…

JENOVA!

He panicked, how was he going to wriggle out of this one. If he didn't reply, Jenova would suspect something, if he did reply, she would find where the Cetra were hiding.

_Speak to me, son! You know how much mother loves you!_ She crooned. He heard an additional fake squeak of joy.

_You liar._ He thought angrily. How dare you she call him 'son' when the only one with permission to call him that was his true mother? He wondered how he could've even thought that Jenova had been his monster in the first place.

_Son?_

He decided not to answer, even if it did blow his cover, he didn't want to risk all the lives of those Cetra. He would never be able to meet his mother or Aeris if he did so.

_SON!_

He sensed her voice and the anger in it. He knew now that this beast didn't really have feelings of love.

Then he heard a shrill cry that rang through his ears and into his head. He mentally tried to block out the sound, but found that he couldn't. He quickly cut off their mental link, almost like slamming a door in someone's face.

But that scream remained in his mind, always shrill and going on forever.

Another voice joined in, a man's. Pain filled his head… and… his… thoughts.. were… dulled… more… f------uuuzzzzyyy…. Thhhheeenn… evveerrr….

Was that him screaming? He wasn't too sure……………………….

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

His eyes snapped open, and he was breathing hard. He peered around the unfamiliar room he was in. Just as his eyes wandered to the door, Aeris and two others came in, a male and a female, both in their middle ages.

There was the woman that stood next to Aeris, who looked extremely like her. She could have nearly passed for Aeris' twin, but older. He looked at the man… the man… was too familiar for it to be right…

The man peered at him, pushing his glasses up his nose and scratching nonchalantly at his cheek.

"What's wrong, Nefilim? We heard you scream…" Aeris asked, never minding the blank stares that she received from the two others.

Nefilim thought about it, the two others must know him… but by his real name. His thoughts were cut short when a dull throb came to his ribs… then the hardcore pain. He slumped into the bed, trying to focus on the main point of the pain to stop it.

"Just a bad… dream." He said, his teeth clenched and his voice tight. He forced out a smile, cold sweat pouring down his forehead like rain.

Aeris heard the strain in the silver-haired man's voice. "Are you sure you're alright?" She asked, touching his arm in concern.

Nefilim didn't like this closeness, he felt uncomfortable. His only barrier to being uncomfortable was anger. He would become angry and people would fear him. Aeris' soft gentle hand touching his arm was unbearable.

Aeris gave a small smile, trying to be comforting. From her hand, she felt all the pain and uncomfort that Nefilim felt, and all of it seemed strange to her. She could feel the discomfort building up inside, he was nearly wriggling with it. She quickly let go of his arm and saw him sag with relief.

Nefilim stared at his arm; it burned where her arm had touched him. The touch was almost… comforting…

He mentally smacked himself. What was he thinking? He needed to get back to the dream. How had Jenova found him? He needed to tell Aeris immediately.

Before he could speak, Aeris nearly jumped and gave a small "Oh". "I forgot to introduce you to my parents, Nefilim! Sorry!" She looked at her mother and said. "Nefilim, this is my mother, Ifalna."

"Er… hi…" His voice gave out a touch of strain and nervousness. He nearly hit himself, what a nice way to start off, by sounding like an idiot.

"And this is my dad, Profess…"

The man felt dizzy. The words came out of her mouth in slow motion, before she could even say her father's name, he said. "Jared Gast."

Memories came back to him. Most of them were happy ones. Though he hated most of his caretakers, Gast was the one who was always gentle with his injections and was always kind to him. Sometimes, the man was reluctant to even give Nefilim a shot.

There was a long silence in the room. Aeris stared at Nefilim, Nefilim stared at Gast, and Ifalna and Gast exchanged looks. Finally, breaking the silence, Nefilim spoke up. "Professor Gast…" He said, his voice hoarse. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, dear boy. It is me. I'm glad you remembered! I almost thought that you'd have forgotten! It's been a long time since then." Gast smiled warmly, his face curving upwards, the same smile that he used to smile when Nefilim was young.

"_You're Aeris' father!_" Nefilim yelled suddenly, realizing what Aeris had said ten minutes ago.

Gast nodded and smiled again. Nefilim's eyes widened with guilt and sadness.

He had killed his daughter… the only man who had ever treated him as a human being. His soldiers had respected him, but respected him as one would with a god. His caretakers had treated him like dirt. Hojo fired the ones that had been kind to him.

_Don't let your emotions take over you!_ His mind commanded. _Tell them! Tell them now!_

"Aeris…" he said, looking over at the girl.

Aeris looked up. "Yeah?"

"My dream… it was about Jenova," he began, immediately she looked up, her eyes alarmed. "It… seemed too real to be a dream…" He stopped.

"Go on." She said, looking at him cautiously.

Nefilim cleared his throat, trying to relive the dream. "I don't know… I… she was trying to call to me. She called me 'son'. I wouldn't reply to her, because otherwise she would've found where we were and we would all be doomed."

"Very wise." Gast approved and nodded.

"Anyways… then she knew that I was no longer under her control and she began to scream. That's why I screamed… then… I was here…" he said, finishing lamely.

"It's a good thing you didn't reveal yourself," Aeris sighed, sagging with relief. "So that we weren't exposed… so that we wouldn't be extinguished."

Nefilim felt his chest puff up with pride, then he abruptly stopped when a pain was sent through him.

-----

"Damn it man! What kind of f---in' pilot are you! For the last few years that you've been on here, you've never been this f---in' bad!" Cid yelled as the Highwind narrowly missed a large jutting rock that was in the way. "I swear! If you crash my baby, it'll be the last thing you ever f---in' do!"

"Yes sir." The pilot said weakly, his knees shaking badly. "I'm sorry sir, but the weather is really bad. Maybe we should turn back."

The pilot was right. A storm was brewing. Hail fell hard and made large "smack" noises as they hit the side of the Highwind.

"Hell no! Ya hear me! Hell no!" Cid shouted. "We're gonna get to that damn Cave as soon as possible and kick Sephiroth's annoying little ass!"

"But sir! It'll be suicide! The winds are already acting up!" the pilot said desperately, not having a death wish.

"DON'T YOU TALK BACK TO ME!" Cid yelled, staring the young pilot down.

Personally, Cloud felt sorry for the pilot, but he knew that it had to be done. It was either leave their friend who had saved the world by sacrificing her life, in danger, or go and help her.

The young pilot withered under Cid's tornado-stopping gaze. "Um… ye… yes sir… I won't… t… talk… back again… sir…" he said weakly, shaking.

"SHIT! LOOK AT WHERE YOU'RE STEERING!" Cid shouted, turning beet red. "WATCH OUT FOR THAT—"

Cid was cut off by the impact as the Highwind smashed into a jagged rock. Everyone was thrown back onto the ground, even Barret, who wrapped his arms protectively around Marlene.

Cloud winced as the Highwind screeched, it's hulk scratching against the rock. He prayed that they would all survive this flight.

"My ship!" Cid cried, running towards the steering wheel.

"Screw the damn ship! We want our lives, Cid!" Barret yelled as Marlene flew backwards into the floor, screaming for him.

Red XIII watched in horror as the Highwind tumbled down. Everything was a blur. He stood on his paws, swishing his tail nervously. There would be no way to get out of a crash, unless the Highwind somehow, miraculously, went floating up the air and went to miss every jagged rock in the brewing storm. "Cid, stop it! It's no use!" he yelled over to the angry pilot.

"NO! IT'S MY SHIP! MINE!" Cid roared, kicking at the pilot, who was crumpled on the floor. "DAMN IT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU HAVE TO CRASH! WHY!" he screamed, but his breath was wasted. The pilot had smashed his head into the steering wheel because of the impact, got a nasty gash on the head, and went unconscious.

Other crewmen rushed around the ship. The Highwind tilted and rocked. She groaned as a gust of wind blew them away.

Lightning raked across the sky, sending blinding light all around. The clouds darkened, and thunder roared and the ship tumbled down, yards away from the earth.

It all seemed so dramatic to Cid.

_Lightning and thunder as we go down. _He thought, almost chuckling. _Damn, and with my ship too. Ahh well… Shera always warned me this was the way I was gonna go down. Shera…_

The Highwind screamed as it smashed into the ground. Cid yelled out as he flew backwards and smashed into the wall, his thoughts on the Highwind, Shera, and everything...until it all became a blur.

* * *

So sorry for not updating! My dad took away the internet for a while! Sorry! See! Super long chappie to make up for it! 


	17. Chapter 16

Aeris looked up sharply. She could feel them. They were here, in the Promised Land.

_Cloud…_ She thought, and gave a sad smile. _He was so handsome. He reminded me so much… of Zack…_

"Aeris?" Nefilim asked, looking at Aeris weirdly.

"Hmm?" she murmured, her voice distant and dreamy.

Nefilim and Aeris had been left alone in his room. Gast and Ifalna went off to talk and discuss "important" matters.

She suddenly snapped out of her thoughts, and found Nefilim staring at her. "Sorry? Wha?" she looked dazed. Nefilim's gaze lingered, then he turned away and shook his head. "Um… Nefilim… they're here…"

The silver-haired man stared at the ground for a long time. Who were 'they'? He thought hard… ahh yes…

_AVALANCHE. _He thought. _And the failure._

He wasn't aware of the evil smile that crept across his face. He found Aeris staring at him with horror and fright. The smile dissolved. "Nefilim…"

_She is still afraid of me._ He thought sadly. _Why am I doing things that I am unaware of?_

He cleared his throat. "So… AVALANCHE is here." He winced at the tone of his voice that came from his mouth. He sounded plain evil.

Aeris wasn't sure why Sephiroth sounded so different. His voice even went lower with evil. "Maybe we can er… go get them?" she asked, hoping that Sephiroth would agree.

"If I could get out of this bed, I would." Nefilim said, and groaned. Then pulled himself out of the bed and gingerly stood up. "I hope we won't have to go through all those tunnels and fly up forty feet into the air. If we do, I think I just might collapse on the ground and die."

Aeris was relieved. Maybe Sephiroth didn't mean to sound evil on purpose. She giggled with both relief and happiness.

"No. Don't worry about that," she said, leading him out of the room. "I'll find you an easier way to get out."

"That doesn't include flying forty feet into the air." Nefilim said.

"Ok. That doesn't include flying into the air. Got it." Aeris nodded. "Come now, Mr. Nefilim."

Nefilim gave her a puzzled look in which she giggled again, and he followed her out of the house.

-----

"Cloud!"

_Ughhh…_

_Where the hell am I?…_

_Haha… reminds of me when I fell down into the church and onto the flowers… where I met Aeris…_

_Aeris…_

_Where are you?…_

_I want to see you again Aeris… so badly…_

_I'm sorry that you had to go…_

"Cloud! Are you alright?"

_Huh? Who is saying that?_

"Cloud, if you're ok, move something!"

_I'm trying…_

"Hey! Spikey-ass moved!"

He got up, giving his spiky head a shake and jumped up. He found the rest of AVALANCHE all watching him, except Cid who was crying over his Highwind. Tifa gave a relieved look and began to fuss over him.

"Honestly, Tifa, I'm fine." He said, as Tifa droned on about how he had been unconscious for a long time and could have sustained a lot of damage and…

He looked around. This was not what he expected to crash on. There were dead plants all over the place and burned places here and there. The sky was dark and smoke rose from many miles away.

_Where is the Highwind?_ His eyes went wide, the sudden thought hitting him. _It couldn't have sustained so much damage that it went up in flames._

"My poor Highwind. My poor baby." Cid moaned. "It sustained so much damage… and I can't even find it!" He sniffed loudly.

Tifa looked over at Cid, annoyed. "Cid… you've been whining about it for the past hour and you still haven't gone to look for it. Why don't you just sit back and take a smoke?"

"Don't we already have enough?" A familiar voice said.

The hair on the back of Cloud's neck rose. He knew that voice… and he had cursed the day that he would hear it again.

_Sephiroth! That damn bastard!_

All of the members of AVALANCHE saw Sephiroth, standing near them, looking quite beaten up, with some cuts on his face and his hand was holding onto his ribs.

"Damn!" Barret yelled, standing up quickly.

"Daddy… is that… him?" Marlene asked frightfully.

Nefilim stared at AVALANCHE, and they stared back at him. He felt so… peculiar being around them… they felt so… so… the same….

Barret's gun-arm was trained on him. Immediately the rest of AVALANCHE snapped out of their momentary trance and drew their weapons also.

"Murderer!" Cloud yelled and swung the Ultima Weapon in a perfect arc, then stopped, the blade barely nicking Sephiroth's neck.

Nefilim could feel blood flow from the cut that came from the Ultima Weapon. He exhaled slowly, not moving, because if he did, he knew he would decapitate himself.

He cautiously took a step near Cloud, who also took a step back. "Yes, Cloud. I would prefer to take that route also. To run myself into your blade and end my life."

"You lying little bastard! All _you_ want to do is _take over the Planet!_ Ha… you can't get out of this one, can you? I'll kill you again… and a million more times if that's what it takes to banish you forever from this world!" Cloud shouted, his entire body trembling with fury.

"What Planet, Cloud? Does this look like the Planet to you? This is the _Promised Land_. I'm dead… and maybe you are to." Nefilim said, sending chills down Cloud's back. "I was sent here, because Jenova is destroying this place. Of course, if you were to decapitate me, I wouldn't be able to help the Cetra stop her, and I would die again. I would thank you profusely if you did so… so I can stop asking myself… who the hell was I as a child? Who was my father… and last of all… what is my name?"

All of them exchanged uneasy glances. What did Sephiroth mean by not knowing his own name? "I don't care what the f--- you were as a child, but your father is Hojo and your name is Sephiroth? Got it? Got that in your damn thick skull?"

Nefilim stared at the large man. Thinking about what he just said.

_I don't care what the f--- you were as a child, but your father is and your name is . Got it? Got that in your damn thick skull?_

_That didn't help very much._ Nefilim thought bitterly. _I still don't know my name and I still don't know who my father is._

He looked at the rest of AVALANCHE. One of them was a pilot. Yes, he knew his name. Cid Highwind, the best pilot on the entire Planet. Next was a red beast… perhaps from Cosmo Canyon? And another, a mysterious man… his skin so pale and his eyes a threatening red. One arm was a claw and the other held a gun. He seemed familiar… somehow. The next one was a girl. She was probably sixteen or seventeen… and was probably from Wutai. Godo's daughter perhaps.

_Well everyone seems familiar these days. _He would have laughed at this, if he didn't have Cloud's sword in his face.

Then his eyes rested on a girl. She had long chestnut hair and she was in a fighting stance. She was way too familiar for it to be right.

His thoughts strayed back to Nibelheim. She was the one that was their guide to Mt. Nibel! What was her name? … Tifa… Tifa Lockheart.

_You burned down Nibelheim!_

_Murderer!_

_The smell of smoke and burning flesh came to his nostrils. He sniffed the air, savoring it. The cries of the human weaklings amused him. Such weaklings cannot even stand a little fire. And he laughed… how he enjoyed murder. Watching as they spewed blood as he put his sword into their stomach. And how much they deserved the pain. _

_They had given the same pain to Mother. And Mother had suffered so much, so now this was payback. _

…_The pain…_

Pain filled his head. He dropped down to his knees, groaning. His hands clenched into fists and he put his head to the ground.

"No! They didn't… deserve it!" he muttered. "They didn't… I shouldn't… no… I hate fire… I hate killing…'

"Damn it! He's going bonkers on us!" Cid yelled, snapping his spear around and pointed it at the silver-haired man.

"… Do we have to fight him again?" Yuffie moaned. "I hate doing this job! After this I quit!"

Cloud frowned and shushed the two. "What do you mean, Sephiroth?"

"Nibelheim… five years ago… you… told… Zack…Zack… gaahhh… that… it was you… your… hometown. I…in the… reactor… Z… Zack… said to me… 'you mean you're different?'… And… I… the anger… and… I went… insane… f…for…. Knowledge… and… when… I read… those… books… I… bu…burned Nibel…" he said, collapsing on the ground, twitching.

"Are you alright!"

Aeris ran in from nowhere and sat next to Sephiroth, who was shaking. AVALANCHE gaped at her in amazement.

"Aeris…" Cloud whispered, reaching out to see if she was real… not an illusion.

"Uh… hi guys." Aeris said, looking at Sephiroth, her brows furrowing with worry.

"Wut… wut… the hell is he doing with you? Where da hell is dis?" Barret asked. "Especially… wit' dat… no good sonuva…"

"Daddy!" Marlene looked at her father.

Cloud snorted and walked toward Sephiroth and Aeris. He held out the Ultima Weapon at Sephiroth's neck.

"What are you doing, Cloud!" Aeris screamed, looking at Cloud with frightened eyes.

The blonde haired man had an evil look in his eyes. "He's got you in some sort of mind control. It's not like you Aeris, to be helping your murderer."

Cloud struck downwards, but found that all he stabbed was the grass. Sephiroth had already rolled away from him. Aeris looked at him with sad eyes. "Can't you open your mind, Cloud? Do you really think it was him who killed me? Do you think it was him that burned down Nibel?"

He clenched his fists. "Yes." Both Sephiroth and Cloud said at once. Cloud stared at the silver haired man, his eyes hard with anger. He tightened his jaws. "It was that no good bastard that burned down Nibelheim! Did you hear him? He even admitted himself!"

Nefilim slowly turned to him untwitching with haunted eyes. "Strife…" he said slowly. "That day… I killed Zack… didn't I?"

He stared at Cloud, waiting for an answer. When he did not receive one, he sighed and slowly got up. "Tell me, I wish to know."

_He felt so dizzy… the world was spinning…_

"_Cloud, you alright? Can you stand?"_

"_Yeah, Zack… I'm alright. Come on… let's get outta here."_

"_Yeah—"_

"_Freeze!"_

_Shinra Soldiers lined up in front of them, their guns pointed. They both ran for it._

_Bullets flew at them. "Damn!" Zack shouted and drew the Buster Blade and ran at them. The soldiers began to shoot again. _

_He watched in amazement as Zack ducked and dodged the bullets. But something went wrong, horribly wrong. A stray bullet hit his best friend right in the chest and Zack's body turned in a perfect arc and fell to the ground._

"_NOOO!" He screamed, running towards his best friend, ducking all the bullets that came at him._

_Everything seemed in slow motion as he took up Zack's Buster Blade and jumped up and slaughtered each of them in anger…_

"_Cloud…" Zack spluttered. "You… alright…"_

_He kneeled down. "Zack… you can't just… leave me here!" He cried, hot tears spilling down his cheeks._

"_I'm sorry man… I'm sorry…" Zack sighed. "I just… can't… hold on…"_

_He watched hopelessly as his best friend gave his last breath. _

That memory would be engraved in his head forever. He stopped and stared at Sephiroth. "No," he forced out, even though he wanted to shout 'Yes! You killed him!' "You didn't kill him. We were both trespassing and we got the treatment. And Shinra Soldiers came and they shot Zack down…"

Aeris stared at the two. She was disappointed that they weren't all buddy-buddy, but she was happy enough that they weren't killing each other.

Cloud's eyes suddenly flashed with anger and he slashed at Sephiroth. "But you still killed Aeris!" he yelled, his voice trembling with emotion. "You almost killed Tifa! You killed everyone in Nibelheim and almost everyone on the Planet!"

Nefilim dodged the blade. Pain shot through his body but he manage to smile. "I never thought you'd treat your 'hero' this way, Cloud."

Cloud yelled in anger. "My hero was an imaginary one! One that was a _real_ hero! One who saved people, not killed them! You're just a shadow of him. One that has the same face!" And unleashed Omnislash.

_Omnislash. _Nefilim thought remembering this move. This was the one that Cloud had used last time to stop him. He braced himself to be slashed about a hundred times.

"Mr. Strife, I ask you not to raise your blade at my son."

Nefilim's head snapped up. "Mother?"

Lucrecia walked towards them, smiling. She looked at Nefilim. "Do not fight, please."

"Sorry." Nefilim said, lowering his head in shame.

Vincent stared in amazement at Lucrecia. Had the Cetra heard his call? It was her! The woman that was in his dreams. The one he had always loved.

"Lucrecia…" He said.

Lucrecia smiled. "Hello, Vincent. It's been a long time."

"How is it possible…" he whispered, then added dumbly. "Are you… real?"

The woman gave an amused laugh. "How silly of you, Vincent. Of course I'm real."

"Woo… looks like Vincent's dizzy with love." Barret muttered, so only Yuffie and Cid could hear.

Cid guffawed at this and Yuffie gave a tiny giggle. "You got that right, Barret." Yuffie smiled. "He acts so dumb when he's nervous."

"Ya know… this is the first time I've actually seen _him_ nervous." Cid said, puffing on a cigarette.

The two others agreed. They watched as Vincent grew flustered, talking to Lucrecia and saying stupid things.

"Aww… just look at 'im… he's getting red…" Barret teased, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Tifa and Cloud exchanged glances. Red XIII, Cid, Barret, and Yuffie all laughed and Aeris smiled. Sephiroth gave a blank look and Vincent's face burned with embarrassment.

Suddenly, the area began to shake. Aeris looked around in alarm. "What's happening here?" Red XIII asked, looking around. "Is she here?"

Nefilim bent over, feeling the overwhelming pull in his blood. His blood began to race. He looked up and saw Cloud, clutching his head and falling to his knees.

"No shit, Red. Look at Cloud and you-know-who. The only ones that can get them in a position like that is Jenova," Cid said, blowing a smoke cloud. "And ya know what? I wouldn't care if that b---- came. I'd like to kick her annoying little ass again. See how she likes it."

"We need to get out of here!" Aeris shouted, looking extremely panicky. "Jenova is more powerful then before. This time we don't stand a chance against her!"

Aeris ran next to Cloud and Sephiroth, helping them both up. Cloud looked appreciatively at her.

Tifa watched in jealousy. Cloud was _her_ best friend. She was the one that was always there beside him, the one steering him out of harm's way and helping him find his true self. It should have been her, helping him up, not Aeris.

_Get a hold of yourself. _She thought, clenching her fists, her blood racing with jealousy. _We're here to help Aeris… not to kill her. Anyways… she was just helping him up… right?_

_Then why does he always look at her that way and not me?_ Another side of her said.

_You're his best friend. You're supposed to be happy for him._

"Come on, guys, this way." Aeris said, running towards the opposite direction that she had come from. "I know a shortcut!"

And so they ran.

* * *

Yes! Two chappie updates in a day! Woohoo! 


	18. Chapter 17

They had not been running for too long, but Nefilim could feel the pain in his body. He ran on. He was reminded of a mission he had a long time ago. A monster that had grown to an unusual size was straying from its homeland, threatening the people of Midgar. He had fought it, and broke many ribs, trying to stop it. He finally managed to plant a bomb on to it. Then he had run away as fast as he could. When he returned to Midgar, he found that he had run a mile in less then six minutes.

_If I could do it then, I can do it now. _He thought as his lungs burned.

"Are you alright?" Aeris asked. "You look a bit pale, Nef."

"I'm fine." He grunted.

Cloud stared at Aeris. "What did you call him?"

"Nefilim," Aeris replied. "Since he can't hear his own name, I gave him a nickname."

"Fallen one?" Cloud gave a weird look. "Hey… can I call you Nefily?"

"Shut up." Nefilim mumbled, turning red.

Cloud gave a mischievous look. "Ok, Nefy. Or… maybe Fily?"

Barret, Cid, and Yuffie snickered loudly. Nefilim's eyes flashed and they silenced immediately. "Sorry," Yuffie grumbled. "We were just joking around. You don't have to take it so seriously."

Nefilim didn't speak. How could they be joking around at this time? When Jenova was so near them and they could die any minute? "Do you joke around in danger because, you cover up your fear with humor?" he asked.

Everyone stared at him. They were quiet for a long time and then Yuffie spoke up. "Yeah, the jokes keep me from fear… because right now I'm afraid."

"You're not afraid of Jenova," Nefilim said, sadly. "You're all afraid of me."

Yuffie looked at the silver-haired man and almost felt sorry for him. All his life he had been confused and angry. He had been abused and now… he was paying for something that was not his fault.

The young ninja wasn't sure why she was sympathizing for Sephiroth, the one who had nearly killed her father in the war.

"Here we are," said Aeris, shaking Yuffie out of her thoughts.

Nefilim stared at the burned ground. It seemed a little too… familiar. Aeris smiled at him, giving him a wink, and he understood, and his lips spread into a grin.

"Aw hell no!" Cid yelled. "If this guy is smiling then this ain't freaking ass safe!"

Tifa stared at Sephiroth. He was actually smiling, not the one that she had seen before, when he had burned down Nibelheim, but this was a true smile. It changed his face completely, she thought he even looked a little handso…

_Ok! Stop it right there, Tifa!_ Her mind yelled.

Aeris watched as the ground slid away. Nefilim and her exchanged glances and began to laugh.

"Oh shit! If he's laughing than this must be worse then hell!" Cid looked in horror. "This is definitely something bad…"

Cloud watched in amazement. Sephiroth laughing good-naturedly? There was _definitely_ something wrong here. His gaze turned back to Aeris… a prank of some sort, perhaps?

Nefilim peered down the hole. The shaking came again. He took a deep breath and jumped in…

Cloud watched as Sephiroth disappeared down into the darkness.

_Time to jump…_

He jumped in next. A wave of nausea washed over him. It was so damn black down here. Too damn black. He wanted to scream but his mouth was glued shut in horror.

And before he knew it, it was over. He opened his eyes and was relieved to find that there was light. The urge to lose his breakfast was gone, and he breathed deeply.

Nefilim offered his hand. Cloud ignored it and got up. The silver-haired man's hand dropped to his side and he shrugged, turning away.

Cloud gave him a look that said "I don't f---in' trust you and I never will so f--- off."

Soon, the rest of AVALANCHE came flying out from the tunnel and Cid moaned about how he lost his cigarette in his fall.

"Look! I only have a few cigarettes left!" Cid whined. "And I lost a perfectly good one back there!"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Maybe this is the time to _quit_."

Cid opened his mouth to say something, but Aeris spoke up. "Come on," she said. "Let's get to my house."

"Hey!" Barret exclaimed looking around. "Doesn't this kinda look like the buildings in the City of Ancients?"

"Yeah, it's exactly the same," Yuffie said dryly, peering around. "Gosh, I woulda thought it'd be different around here.

"Yes. I thought so myself when I first came down here," Nefilim said stiffly, causing everyone to look at him.

"I'd like to know how you got in that condition," Tifa said, eyeing Sephiroth's injuries.

Nefilim averted his gaze and turned to the floor. "I… I'll just say that I'm not welcome here,"

"Hey, quit lookin' at the floor," Barret said. "It's all brown anyways."

Cloud ignored Barret's comment. "So you got beaten up?" he asked, almost snickering at the thought.

The silver-haired man slowly nodded and Red XIII shook his head sadly as all of his friends (all but Aeris mind you) giggled or snickered. "I don't see how one being attacked is a laughing matter," he said, swishing his fiery tail around, causing his friends to jump back in alarm. "If you were beaten up, you would not be laughing."

"Just 'cause you kitties don't got the same sense of humor as we humans do," Barret retorted and looked at Sephiroth. "So, how'd ol' war hero get his ass kicked?"

Nefilim seemed to be uncomfortable. "I'm not a 'war hero'," he said roughly, his instincts of being uncomfortable took over. "Like Cloud said, I'm not a hero. "Like Strife said. I'm not a hero, I'm a murderer. And I did not fight back… why should I? The people did nothing wrong by beating me. They were right to do so. I do not deserve to be here."

Lucrecia seemed hurt. "Honey, you don't have to torture yourself this way. It was never your fault."

"I told you, mother, I'm not worth it. I don't see why you haven't disowned me yet. I'd also like to know, Aeris, why am I here?" Nefilim said, his hate for himself building up again.

"Geez, talk about negative." Yuffie muttered, too low for anyone else to hear.

Aeris looked sadly over at Sephiroth. "I thought you would learn to understand what it is to be here, but it seems that you need to find out for yourself."

Cloud shoved in. "No need. We don't need him here anyways."

"You're right," Nefilim said, his voice filled with pain and ran away.

"Nefilim! Come back!" Aeris yelled, giving Cloud a hopeless look, she said. "What did you have to do that for?"

Cloud gave an innocent look. "What? Scared off an annoying bastard that doesn't deserve to be here?"

She gave an exasperated sigh, muttered something about wishing that he could learn to be friendly, and ran after the silver-haired man.

-----

Nefilim pumped hard, running down the street, getting uneasy glances from many people he passed. He couldn't stand that failure… that annoying bastard… Strife…

He didn't care how much running hurt, or for that matter, how much damage he had already done to himself.

In his thoughts, he wasn't aware that he was about to run into someone.

When they collided, he apologized to the man, profusely. "No need," the man said, his voice so familiar. "…Son…"

He looked up sharply. He hadn't looked at the man that he had collided into, closely. There stood a man of about 5'6 to 5'7. He had long greasy black hair that was tied into a ponytail. The man wore a long white lab coat and had black framed glasses.

… _He called me son…_

… _Who is he?…_

…_HOJO!…_

_NOOOOO!_

More memories came back to him. The once mysterious figure that was ever so cruel to him was revealed to be Hojo. "Don't… call… me… son…" he gasped, bending over, his head hurting like hell. "I'm… not… your… son…"

"Yes you are," Hojo said, giving an evil smile and bent over next to his son. "Look son… you've grown all strong… now go… kill…" he said the last word with a delighted hiss, his foul breath going into Nefilim's face.

"No! Get away from me!" Nefilim yelled, stumbling backwards. "Get away! I don't want to kill! I'm no puppet!" All of his yelling won stares from people passing by.

Hojo gave a disgusted and yet disappointed look. He grabbed Nefilim by hair, and the other arm grabbed his sleeve and pulled it up. He released his hair and pointed to the tattoo that said '1'. "You are not a failure! I know you are not! You are not a weakling! Get up! Where is your pride! Look at this tattoo! Look at it! You were not made to be weak!"

Nefilim had heard those words before.

_He had been running for so long. Around and around the track he went. He wasn't sure how many laps he had done already, but he looked up into the sky. It was sunset. He had already been running since dawn._

_If he had even slowed one bit, Hojo would beat him. If he begged for water, Hojo would beat him. If he collapsed, he would be beaten awake. _

_His chest burned so badly. He had a coppery taste in his mouth, it tasted like blood, but he knew there was none._

_He coughed a bit, choking up a bit of phlegm. He spat it on the ground, never slowing his pace. He continued to cough, but he never slowed down._

_By the next day, he had collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. _

_Hojo ran next to him, and began beating him. … "You are not a weakling! Get up! You are not a failure!"_

_But he could not get up…_

"Get away from him, Hojo."

Nefilim looked up. Aeris stood next to him, her chest heaving. She must have chased after him.

_Why would she come after me… a no good like me? _He wondered.

Hojo leered. "Ahh… the Cetra girl. Looks like you've become friends with her, yes, son? Maybe a little closer than that!"

Nefilim's eyes filled with hate. "No, you disgusting bastard!" he yelled, and struggled to get up.

"Hojo," said a cold voice.

"Vincent. Lucrecia," Hojo said mildly. "And AVALANCHE… oh… and the failure. What a pleasant surprise."

"Get away from him," Lucrecia hissed angrily, her voice dripping with acid. "You've already ruined my life and partly your own sons! Have you no shame?"

Hojo stared at her, then began laughing. "Shame!" Tears ran down his cheeks from all the laughing. "Shame! Of course I'm shamed! Just because I've devoted my life to my son to find that he was only a weakling! A coward… son of a no good woman. A f—"

He was cut off as his breath was knocked out of him. Nefilim had tackled him, adrenaline pumping through him and forgot all his pain. "I f---in' hate you!" he yelled, punching the smaller man dozens of times. "I want you to die! Die! Look at all the pain you've caused! Look! LOOK DAMMIT!" He grabbed Hojo by the neck and forced the man to look at him.

Hojo laughed still, his face bruised and battered from all the abuse. "Good, my son! More anger! More!"

"I'LL GIVE YOU MORE ANGER!" Nefilim shouted, raining more blows on his father's face.

"Go Sephiroth?" Yuffie said.

"I could hardly care less if he 'accidentally' trips and breaks every bone in his body." Cloud muttered darkly.

Other people had gathered to watch Nefilim, some looked at Hojo and cheered him on. Other looks looked angry, and yelled at him to stop.

Vincent, as much has he wanted to join in and cheer Nefilim on, knew that he could not allow the man to do this. He grabbed Nefilim by the arms and hauled him backwards.

"Let me go, dammit!" Nefilim screamed, flailing his arms and fighting Vincent.

Lucrecia hugged Nefilim, fiercely, telling him to calm down. After a while, Nefilim had finally stopped fighting, the crowd, waited as if wanting more. Then after a while, it dissipated.

Nefilim remained, trembling.

"Nefilim, are you…" Aeris began.

He covered his head in his hands, trying to calm himself. Hojo still laughed. "Very good, very good son. A little more anger."

Nefilim felt Cloud's eyes on him. He sighed. "You got lucky… if I had the masamune… I would've… _killed you…_" His voice went low with evil and anger.

He shivered, hearing the words said so evil. He knew that his mother and Aeris must have been disappointed. He clenched his fists, he needed to control his anger or he would become a mindless killing machine again.

He slowly stood up, his breath calming and pain came back him. He groaned and bent over, the damage to his ribs had been done.

Aeris stared at Sephiroth's tattoo and sighed sadly. What kind of man was Hojo, to tattoo his own son and mark him as an experiment? She looked down at Hojo in disgust, she almost wished that Sephiroth _had _killed him.

"Where are you going, number 1?" Hojo sneered. "Home?"

Nefilim paused and looked back in disgust. "Home?" he laughed, in a way that was so close to insanity. "What home? The lab? A cell?"

He turned away and walked quickly away. Aeris came after him, looking at him pleadingly. He averted her eyes and continued walking. Cloud walked after him, but Tifa stopped him. They watched as Aeris chased after Sephiroth.

"Nefilim…"

"…………"

"Nefilim please…"

"…………."

"Nefilim…"

Nefilim found that they were already far away from everyone else. He looked back Aeris, who looked sadly back at him. He looked into her eyes, they were pleading.

"Nefilim… is something wrong?"

He realized that he was staring at her, he coughed a few times and turned away, blushing. "Nothing's wrong…" he muttered.

They kept on walking and now they were out of sight of everyone. "Aeris… I'm sorry," he said, his voice low. "…Just… the sight of my father…"

"It's alright," she replied, gently touching his face. "He caused all that pain."

He didn't shy away from her touch. He was hardly aware of raising his hand and touching her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Aeris stared at her hand. Did Sephiroth just give her hand a gentle squeeze? She looked back at him, lost in his mako eyes, she could not turn her gaze away.

Suddenly, the two were shaken out of their trance and they both looked away at the same time, embarrassed. "Sorry," Nefilim muttered. "I didn't mean to."

Aeris didn't know what to say. She had been so close to him… merely inches away from his face… if she had just leaned over a bit more… she would have…

Would have… would have…

"Uh… maybe we should head back… maybe?" Nefilim said, his voice shaky.

Aeris agreed and the two walked back towards her house, neither looking at the other.

* * *

Yay! Another chappie done! Woo things growing hot between Nefy and Aeris... wooooo...

Lol... anyways... thanks to everyone who reviewed and read to here! The ending is coming!


	19. Chapter 18

Aeris opened the door to her house. She still thought of the closeness between Sephiroth and her. She paused, standing right over the threshold, lost in thought.

"Aeris, are you going in?" Nefilim asked, shaking the Cetra out of her thoughts.

"Er… uh… yeah," she said, getting flustered again. She quickly stepped into the house.

Nefilim looked at her. He felt confused on the inside. No other woman had ever made him feel this way… he had turned every other woman who had been after him, down. So… why was this happening to him now? He shook himself.

_You should not be thinking these thoughts._ He scolded. _Aeris and you are nothing but friends. It will not go any further. Control your feelings. The Cetra will not allow this._

He then stepped into the house and found all of AVALANCHE seated in couches, talking. The room immediately silenced when he stepped in. There was an uneasy pause, then Ifalna spoke up. "Nefilim…"

"Yes?"

"You have another visitor."

"Another person waiting to beat me up?" Nefilim asked, dryly, laughing a little. "Send he or she away."

"No way you're going to send me away, man."

That was too familiar. He knew that voice. He looked past Ifalna… and there stood Zack.

_He sat at his office, checking on the files of all his new troops, making sure that every single one of them were in top shape._

"_Hey, old man."_

"_Yes Zack," he replied, not looking up from his computer's monitor._

"_How's it going?" the black haired man asked, plopping into a chair near him. "Checkin' on the newbies?"_

_He stopped for a second and looked at the man. "I prefer you call them… troops, for they have earned their right to be called that. I do not think they would like to be called 'newbie' or 'wet nose'."_

"_Sorry man," Zack said apologetically._

"_Call me _General,_ like the other thousands of times I asked you to," the silver-haired man replied curtly. "If you do not mind, Zack, I have a job."_

_Zack shrugged. "Well, all you do is check on those boring lists all day. Anyways… I met this girl down in Midgar."_

"_Another one?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in amusement. "Zack, I wish you would learn to stay with one… or be with none at all."_

"_Well this one's special. Her name's Aeris. She's real sweet. She's sure got a green thumb. She sells flowers down there."_

"_Flowers?" he said, his voice uncaring. "In Midgar?"_

"_Yeah, it's pretty damn strange huh? But she's good as hell with 'em." _

"_And you know what… maybe I'll ask her to marry me one day."_

"_I highly doubt it Zack. You'll lose interest in her, and you'll just find anther one."_

_Zack laughed. "Not this time, not this time."_

Zack was right. He never found another girl. He had died.

The site of Zack made Nefilim have an urge to smile. He was still the same with his black hair all messed up, standing in a nice-guy pose, and having the same big goofy smile.

_In his insanity, he drew the Masamune. Zack drew the Buster Blade, although he did not want to._

"_What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Zack yelled. "You know that's not your mother in there!"_

_They both leaped at each other, their swords meeting in a flurry of blows. But he, being stronger and more skilled, he easily finished Zack off. With one swift motion, his blade connected with the black-haired man's chest._

"Zack?" he whispered.

"Zack!" both Cloud and Aeris yelled at the same time. Then both of them stopped and looked at each other as if to say "you know him?"

"Hey old man… Aeris… and what's up buddy?" Zack grinned, his entire face curving upwards.

Nefilim smiled. Zack's nickname for him was old man because of the shade of his hair. As much as he hated it… it was music to his ears. Then his smile turned into a frown. "How could you still greet me this way… when I almost killed you?"

"Aww come on, old one," Zack teased. "It's the past. No hard feelings, right? And I'm sure you didn't mean it!"

Aeris stared at Zack. How it hurt so much when he never replied to any of her letters. Her heart had screamed for him… and then… from the church's ceiling, as if a gift from someone above, came Cloud.

And now there was Sephiroth in the picture… and the picture frame was too small. He was pushing both Cloud and Zack out.

… The closeness between them… his gentle squeeze…

_No! There is nothing between us! … Is there? _Her mind asked, puzzled. _I didn't know what I was doing… and he didn't either… but he was so… so…_

… _Was so…_

… _Handsome?_

"I probably _did_ mean it," Nefilim sighed, frustrated. "I'm not sure… I didn't know why I felt so angry… it was because you were stopping me from freeing… her…"

Zack shrugged. "You went totally crazy, man, thinking she was your mother and all."

Cloud stared at his best friend. "Zack… why did you leave me there? You know that my mother was gone… and I had no one left…" he looked down at his hands. "I became a fool… I thought _I_ was _you_."

The black-haired man gave a sad look. "Yeah I know man… but man… death was so tempting…'

"Whoa. Whoa. Ok, so it's all a big reunion… hell, this is a damn small world," Cid said, for once not smoking. "So uh… maybe you two should of thought of US before running off, thank you very much for DITCHIN' us."

Aeris felt her face burn dark red. She was again reminded of her reactions toward Sephiroth. "Sorry," she said quietly, trying to push the thoughts out of her head and keep herself cool. "I don't know… Nefilim was just…"

Zack put on a weird face. "_NEFILIM!"_

"Yeah. I call him Nefily or Nefy…' Cloud said, casting a dark yet mischievous look of utter hate at Sephiroth. Then seeing Zack's puzzled expression, he added, "It's 'cause Nefy, right here, forgot his own name."

Nefilim's eyes flashed with anger. "_I told you not to call me that, FAILURE_," he said, his voice low with anger.

Cloud's eyes met the challenge and soon they were caught in a staring contest, neither breaking eye contact or blinking.

The silver-haired man crossed his arms. He'd stare down that blonde headed bastard.

_Let's just see how long the failure would be able to take this._ He thought.

Cloud's eyes were beginning to sting, but he refused to close them. He remained stony faced. Mako eyes met mako eyes.

"Ok, break it up," Zack said, walking over toward Cloud and clapping in the blonde man's face. Then he turned and waved his hand in front of Nefilim's face.

Both blinked, then looked at each other angrily. As much as he hated to, Nefilim broke eye contact and looked away.

Cloud stared in surprise, then he smiled triumphantly. Nefilim immediately turned around and flashed a look that said 'I'm not finished with you yet'. The blonde-haired man frowned deeply, then looked away.

"What more do you have to say, _murderer_?" Cloud asked, quite nastily.

Nefilim's back when rigid. The word murderer affected him greatly.

"Cloud… don't…" Tifa gave a frightened look.

"Why not? I'm just saying the truth. Aren't I, _murderer_?" Cloud said, his teeth showing, his smile evil.

_MURDERER! MURDERER! MURDERER!_ The words screamed in his mind.

"What did you call me?" he whispered quietly, so quietly that he could barely hear himself, and then he clenched his fists.

Cloud took this as a threat and took a step forward. Tifa grabbed his shoulder and shook her head no at him, but he ignored her.

Zack looked between his best friend and his general. He could nearly see the hate rays between them. He knew that he wasn't strong enough to stop _both_ Cloud and Sephiroth.

"I've just had enough of _you_," Nefilim hissed. "I've tried to be nice…"

Cloud laughed coldly. "_Tried to be nice_? Hahahaha… you lying backstabbin' bastard."

"Cloud, stop it. Nefilim does have a point you know. He has tried to be nice to you… yet you just cannot seem to accept it," Red XIII said, getting off of his stomach and getting up. "I suggest you to think about how you are acting right now."

"Oh, so you're on his side now are you?" the blonde man said, his voice over the edge. "I see how it is… go ahead… join the _murderer's_ side."

Cid shook his head, and began to scratch at his stubble nervously. "You know, Cloud, I think you're overreacting about all this."

"Yeah. I mean Nefilim's on our side now… it's no biggie," Yuffie added in.

Tifa sighed. "Cloud, I can't forgive him for killing dad… but… what you're doing is just too far…"

Barret didn't say anything. He couldn't. He still blamed Sephiroth for having his daughter experience the horror of Meteor…

"So all of you are on his side," Cloud said through clenched teeth. He closed his hands into a fist, all of his knuckles cracked.

Nefilim watched Cloud closely. "If you are going to hit me, I will not move."

"Damn straight I am!" he yelled and charged forward.

His right fist came straight at Nefilim's face. There was a loud 'thwack' as Cloud's fist connected with the silver-haired man's left cheek.

Nefilim felt exploding pain, his torso turned as Cloud's fist came. There was the coppery taste of blood in his mouth. He touched the blood running down from his lips, and wiped it away. Then he turned around again.

Cloud knew that this wasn't right, but who the hell cares! He was avenging all of his townspeople!

"Hit me more if it helps you make your anger subside," the silver-haired man said.

"Oh, playing the hero are you?" Cloud sneered, and got ready to punch him again.

"Cloud! Please stop!" Aeris begged. "Nefilim's already injured… he's hurt real bad… look! I think he's already taken enough beatings for one day!"

The blonde man wanted to give in to Aeris… yet at the same time he wanted to just beat Nefilim down. He took the second option.

He tackled Nefilim and sent him flying into the ground many feet away. Aeris screamed in horror, Yuffie clapped her hands over her mouth, and Red XIII gave a growl of disproval. Lucrecia, Gast, and Ifalna watched frozen, unable to say or do anything.

Everyone else stared dumbly as Cloud grabbed the man by the legs and dragged him. Then he began to punch him ferociously, screaming with rage at each punch.

Nefilim felt the pain shooting in his ribs. He grabbed the blonde haired man and picked him up, hurling him back. He got back up, bending over with all the extra pain.

Cloud smacked into the floor, his breath being knocked out of him. He tasted blood in his mouth. He must have bit his cheeks from the fall.

Barret roared and in anger and smashed his fist into Nefilim's body. The silver-haired man groaned and fell over, dazed. Aeris rushed to his side and watched as blood dribbled from the man's mouth.

Nefilim felt dizzy from the last punch. He wanted to wipe the blood away, but found that he had no control of his body. He fell onto the ground and fell unconscious.

"Damn," Cloud growled. "You should have let me take that last hit, Barret."

Aeris stood up angrily. She walked over to Cloud, her eyes blazing. With one swift move, she slapped him. Everyone was silent.

Cloud stared at Aeris for a long time, almost unbelieving that she had slapped him. That gentle Aeris he once knew would never do this.

"A…" he began but was cut off by another slap.

"Shut up!" she screamed, and pointed to Nefilim. "Don't talk, listen! Look at what you did to him and _you knew he was already injured badly!_ He only let you hit him because he thought he deserved it! You know perfectly well that he doesn't and that Jenova was manipulating him! Yet you still take up the chance to beat him! I'd never thought you'd be so… so… ruthless! I thought you were better than that, Cloud! I really did!"

"Aeris… I'm… I'm sorry…" he stammered, surprised at the girl's sudden burst of anger.

"Don't you '_sorry_' me! You go apologize to him once he wakes up… and properly also!" Aeris said, breathing hard, whirling around and bending over to face Nefilim.

She cast a healing spell that healed most of his bruises. Then she set to work on his ribs. The best she could do was to undo the break and straighten it. It would have to heal the rest of the way by itself.

She then walked out, storming her way to her room.

-----

Nefilim woke up. He felt absolutely fine and got out of bed. He could barely register what happened before he fell unconscious.

Then he remembered Cloud's fists and Barret's and he laughed bitterly.

_Got beaten up again, huh Nef? _He asked himself.

"Nefilim…"

Nefilim frowned immediately. It was Cloud. "Yes?" he said, trying to keep the coldness out of his voice.

"I just wanted to say…" Cloud's head was down and his voice was lower than a murmur. "That I am sorry…"

Nefilim stood frozen for a minute… then spoke up. "Aeris told you to say it… didn't she?"

Cloud didn't speak. He turned to leave, but felt Sephiroth's hand clap onto his shoulder and whirl him around. He angrily grabbed the other man's arm and roughly shoved him into the wall. "I said my apologies. Accept them," he said coldly and walked away.

The silver-haired man sighed and shrugged. He understood that Cloud hated him for all he had done.

_He will probably despise me for the rest of my life._ Nefilim thought. _Another person adding me to their 'hate' list._

"Did he apologize?" Aeris said, from behind him.

He nearly jumped with fright. "Where did you come from?" he asked. "I would be able to sense if you—"

"Well, I dunno, but you just had a blank stare on your face. I was going to shake you, but I guess from your reaction… that would have startled you too much." Aeris said.

"Apparently that was _already_ too much," he grumbled, embarrassed that Aeris had gotten past his defenses. "And by the way, yes… he did apologize…"

Aeris gave him a suspicious frown and searched his face for any sign of a lie. When she found none, she dished out another question. "And did he say it meaningfully?"

Nefilim was silent for a while. "Well… I guess…" he said, looking away.

Aeris began to speak but the silver-haired man cut her off. "Aeris… you can't force him to apologize to me… I don't believe he even needs to…"

The Cetra's eyes flashed with anger and the silver-haired man took a step back, wondering what he had said wrong. "Yes! He does need to apologize to you, Nefilim! He… ruthlessly beat you up! And yet you do nothing about it!"

"He doesn't need to… I practically killed him three times… and I destroyed his hometown." The man said, shying away from Aeris, feeling her anger directed at him. "I'm… going to go for a walk." He began to walk away, not seeing the disappointed look that she had on her face.

"May I come?" she asked, her voice calm.

Nefilim didn't look back. "If you want," he said, getting farther and farther away from her.

She sped up to catch up with him.

-----

Cloud quietly sneaked out of the house. He kept a distance from Aeris and Sephiroth, so that they would not see him. As they walked down the road, he slunk behind them, ducking behind people and anything else that would shield him.

He noticed how they began a conversation… though Aeris was doing most of the talking. Sephiroth would just nod his head and agree, or not say anything at all, sometimes dropping in a few comments.

"Nefilim…" she said.

Cloud watched as the silver-haired man cocked his head. "Yes?"

"…do you remember your childhood?"

-----

"… do you remember your childhood?"

Nefilim stared at her. What was she asking him about his childhood for? She knew it was all just the same, getting injections… and beaten. Feeling uncomfortable, he replied slowly, "Yes."

She looked at him briefly, seeing the pained expression on his face, she looked away again. "Never mind then…"

"If you were going to ask me about my childhood… I will tell it to you in a matter of simple words. I was counted as a monster. Hojo… told me that I had no father and that my mother was Jenova… and I believed it. Then… when I became fourteen… I tried to get away from Hojo… by joining the Shinra Army. I quickly rose through the levels and I soon became a general. Still… I was used as a puppet and I still had to 'visit' Hojo a few times to get injections." A muscle in his jaw twitched.

-----

Cloud was aware that they were now in a remote place of the underground city. He burned with white-hot jealousy, seeing Aeris pity Sephiroth. That bastard was telling pity stories to get her close to him!

He wanted to leap out of the bushes that he was hiding in, but he wanted to see what would happen.

"Nefilim… I'm so sorry…" she said.

"What are you sorry about?" the man asked, his voice low. "You didn't even do anything."

Aeris gently touched his face, Nefilim didn't move. Cloud wanted to jump out of the bushes and shriek, but all he did was shudder, he just couldn't stand Aeris touching her own killer's face.

Nefilim looked at her for a while. "Aeris…"

-----

Aeris didn't understand this feeling of warmth that was stirring in her. It had happened with Zack and Cloud… but this was more intense.

She didn't even flinch when Nefilim pulled her close.

-----

Cloud stared opened mouthed as Sephiroth held Aeris to him.

_That bastard! That slimy bastard! He's getting her close to him with his seduction!_ His mind screamed, his heart pained that the one that he loved was being held by another man.

He wanted to go back and scream at everyone that Sephiroth seduced Aeris and that she was just under a false spell. But if he did so, he would earn the hate of Aeris… and perhaps everyone else.

He sighed and slid back from the bushes, easing out and making sure that he did not make a sound. Then he ran away from the scene as quickly and quietly as he could, a pain in his heart.

-----

Aeris heard something from behind the bushes and gently released Nefilim.

"What's wrong?" Nefilim asked, reluctant to release her.

"I thought I heard something…" she said, then shook her head. "Maybe it was just my imagination."

Nefilim scanned the area. There was nothing in site. "Maybe it was." He said, his voice lower than a growl. "We should head back now, Aeris."

She felt a pang of regret for releasing him, but followed him anyways. For these thoughts, she nearly slapped herself.

_What is wrong with you, Aeris! _

_It was just a friendly hug…_

_But you wanted it to be more than that…_

_No I didn't! We're just friends! I just hugged him because he needed comfort!_

_If it was just that he needed comfort… then why do you regret for releasing him? You're falling in love with him._

_I can't be! I love Cloud!_

_You said that you loved Zack when you met Cloud._

_But Zack never came back… and Cloud… he's not the same anymore._

… _and there's Sephiroth._

_NO!_

Aeris argued with herself for moments. Then wondered if she was going insane. She just wanted her emotions and thoughts to just go away.

-----

Cloud was tearing down the street, heading for Aeris' house. That memory was etched in his mind, and the pain, in his heart. How could Aeris do this to him! He loved her…

_Whoever said that she loved you?_ The tiny voice of doubt inside asked. _She never expressed it to you physically…_

He sighed. Maybe it was true. Maybe she was always just his friend…

As he ran down the street, tears ran down his cheeks…

-----

Everyone of AVALANCHE sat around the kitchen table, eating breakfast. "Where the hell did Cloud, Aeris, and Sephiroth go?" Barret asked. "As far as I'm concerned, they're having a fight and that poor girl is stuck between them."

Tifa had her head down. She knew that Cloud had feelings for Aeris, and perhaps the same vice versa.

_Maybe Cloud and Aeris are out… and Sephiroth is looking for Aeris._ Her mind said darkly.

On the outside, she remained silent.

"Hey, maybe Cloud and Sephiroth just got buddy-buddy ya know? They are too different from each other," Yuffie said, cheerfully. Everyone gave her incredulous looks. "Well… it could be possible." She said, shrugging.

"I know Cloud and Sephiroth damn well. They aren't gonna get along." Zack said simply.

Cid nodded. "Yeah. Cloud hates Sephiroth's ass for killin' everybody down in Nibel. And Sephiroth just plain hates Cloud 'cause he kicked the shit out of him four times and he's a 'failure'."

"I'm sure Cloud's hate for Sephiroth is deeper than that," said Red, thinking of Cloud's tale of how Sephiroth nearly killed Tifa. "And I'm sure Sephiroth doesn't hate Cloud at all and only wants to be forgiven. He didn't even retaliate when Cloud began the fight."

Barret nodded and began to speak, but stopped when Marlene came down for breakfast. He hurriedly got up and served his daughter food.

They all froze when they heard the front door open and slam. Then footsteps, quick, as if the person was running. They heard another door in the hall slam.

"That's probably Cloud," Yuffie looked around the table and added. "Without Sephiroth _or_ Aeris."

"Whoa! Whoa! You are not telling me that Sephiroth and Aeris are out _alone_!" Cid took out a cigarette and lit it, then began puffing on it, dismissing the looks of annoyances passed around the table.

Yuffie gave an awkward look. "And what are you suggesting?" she asked suspiciously. "…That they are out alone, and Sephiroth's a man and Aeris' a woman?"

Tifa gave a sigh of annoyance and turned away, brushing her brown locks away from her face. "_Teens these days_. Honestly Yuffie, I'm sure Sephiroth just needs some of Aeris' counseling."

"Are you sure?" Yuffie raised her eyebrows, in an almost-Godoish way.

That forced Tifa to give another cry of "teens these days!"

-----

Cloud sighed, hearing all of AVALANCHE's conversation. How little they knew. Sephiroth didn't need any of Aeris' counseling… _he needed_ Aeris. Or rather… he _had_ Aeris.

"Damn you Sephiroth!" he yelled aloud, punching the wall and stared at the dent his knuckles left, then sat down and did breathing exercises.

Sephiroth had taken everything from him… and now the one he loved? He wasn't going to allow that to happen to him. He was going in there and saving Aeris from that silver-haired monster.

He stood up, grimly. He was going to rip that bastard into pieces.

-----

Jenova burned the ground, no longer amused by the bright flickering fingers of fire. She had lost the puppet.

She had gnawed on her tentacles, slap them onto the floor, scream out in anger, and gnashed her teeth together, but to no avail. They were not going to make that traitor come back.

Her plan had been perfect. Have the puppet do all the murdering for her. He was powerful enough to defeat all those weak Cetra. And when he was done, she would easily dispose of him and reign over the Promised Land, having the Cetra as her slaves.

If she had the Promised Land… then she could control the world of the humans and she would be the queen that she had dreamed of being.

…But she had lost him…

Something caught her attention, and drew her away from her thoughts. This was similar to that puppet named Sephiroth. One of the puppet's clones?

And she smirked, recognizing who it was. Immediately, an image of a blonde man with spiky hair came to mind. "Ahh… Cloud Strife," she whispered, evilly.

She could feel his anger… anger strong enough to become evil. She would bend his evil to her will… and _he_ would be the one she would use.

Jenova knew how easy it would be to brainwash him. That man was already insecure. Just a few memory changes here and there and he would be totally ruined.

She threw her head back and laughed. Somehow, the fire was amusing again.

* * *

AGGGHHHHH! I'm screaming for Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children to come out! WAAAHHHH! Ok... sorry about that. Whew! Longest chappie yet! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this! 


	20. Chapter 19

Nefilim didn't feel right. For some reasons… he felt happy… with a mix of anger and evil in there. These weren't his feelings.

He suddenly realized that the feelings were emitting from Jenova. His cells were just receiving them and therefore he could sense her feelings. Yet he didn't understand why Jenova was so happy. She knew that he was no longer under her powers.

Somehow, he knew that Jenova had another plan.

-----

Cloud felt that he just needed to get away from here. He walked toward the door, about to open it. He stopped just as his hands rested on it.

_Why do I need to go?_ He suddenly wondered.

His mind told him that he just needed to get out of here. To relieve himself of all these emotions. That surely, there was something better than here.

He quietly opened the door, and silently walked out. He still heard his friends talking, though he wasn't sure what their topic was about. Again he had doubts. Where the hell was he going?

_Come on. Just open the door and get out for a while. You need a little fresh air. _Some foreign part of his mind said.

_Just that I'm underground and there is no fresh air_. He thought dryly and reached for the front door.

He gently swung it open and without knowing why, winced as it squeaked loudly. Then quickly swung the door closed and bolted.

-----

"Aeris," he called out to the girl.

She turned. "Yeah?"

Nefilim calmed himself. He needed to tell her. "Aeris… Jenova… I can sense her feelings… she seems to be happy,"

"_Happy_?" Aeris looked alarmed.

He nodded. "I feel that she has another plan in motion. Even though I'm not there for her to control… she must have found someone else."

Aeris stood silent for a minute. "Who else could be under her control?"

Nefilim shrugged. "Anyone who had been injected with Jenova cells."

She had a sinking feeling in her stomach. The only person other than Sephiroth that had a history of being controlled by Jenova was… Cloud.

_Oh no! Not Cloud! That's not possible! He would never…_

_He beat you up without hesitation._

_But… he's out of Jenova's control now…_

_How do you know?_

Aeris must have looked panicky because Nefilim said, "Aeris, you looked quite strained, what is bothering you?"

"Oh no! Nefilim! Cloud… only Cloud could be under Jenova's control. She doesn't even know about Zack and anybody else would be too weak for her to control!" Aeris cried out, her eyes filling up with tears.

Nefilim clenched his fists. He had forgotten. How could he? That weakling could be easily used, but instead of showing his anger, he said calmly, "Don't worry, Aeris. I'm sure Cloud would be stronger than that. He didn't fall under Jenova's influence easily last time… maybe he held out this time."

"We have to go check on him!" she yelled and tore down the street, leaving a stunned Nefilim.

"Damn it, Strife!" he cursed and ran after the girl.

-----

"Has Cloud stopped sulking in his room yet?" Barret asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Nope. It's silent as a cemetery near his room," Cid said, being the one who had checked on Cloud. "I didn't go into his room, but I'm pretty sure he was there, the door was still closed."

Marlene had already finished eating. Barret had shooed her off because it was "adult talk". She had walked off; dejected that she couldn't listen on AVALANCHE'S plans and that she had been excluded.

Suddenly, there was a loud slam and everyone jumped. Immediately, they all looked at the door, Nefilim and Aeris ran in.

"Look it's the lovebirds again," Yuffie muttered dully, so only Cid and Barret could hear. They snickered loudly, much to Tifa's disapproval.

"So… _out alone_ were you?" Barret said, almost in a fatherly manner.

Cid and Yuffie were trying hard not to laugh and coughed frequently to cover it up.

"You guys! This is no time to laugh! Where's Cloud!" the expression on Aeris' face made the two stop giggling.

"He's in his room," Cid said. "Geez… what crawled up your ass and died?"

Nobody laughed. Nefilim dashed off, leaving the rest of them staring at Aeris.

"So what happened now?" Zack asked. "From the looks of it… it's pretty bad."

Aeris sighed. "Where do I even start?"

"DAMN!" came Nefilim's voice.

Everyone jumped. "Wut the hell is wrong wit' ya! Ya probably jus' woke everyone up in the effing neighborhood!" Barret yelled back.

"He's not in his room!" Nefilim called. "Where the hell did he go!"

Cid looked around and began to splutter. "No way! Not… not in his room? But… but… we… all heard him come in! We never… heard him get out!"

"Did you _see_ him come in?" Aeris asked.

The pilot hesitated for a moment. "Well… no… but we just assumed… since we heard the door open and his room door close."

Red XIII swished his tail for a moment. "It can't be possible that he _didn't_ come in because I smelled his scent as he came in… when we were talking… I never noticed."

"He might've escaped through the window." Yuffie said darkly.

Nefilim came walking back from Cloud's room. "Nanaki, check Cloud's room and seek out his scent to see which way he went."

The red beast nodded. "Yes I will. And you may call me Red."

The silver haired man nodded and looked away. It was the first time that he had interacted with them without being criticized or looked at strangely. "Right, Red."

Red walked off toward Cloud's room.

Yuffie looked at Sephiroth for a long time. "You don't have to be so stiff all the time you know."

"Huh?" Nefilim was caught off guard.

The young ninja almost giggled. This was the first time that she had seen Sephiroth look confused. It was almost similar to Cloud's look. "Meaning you should act normally. Be a little more humorous or something."

"I was raised to be this way," he said, not sure why he was telling a bit of his past. "H… Hojo did not want me to muddle with… emotions."

"Well hey! Who said Hojo controls your life?" Yuffie asked, cheerfully. "You're in charge of yourself now!"

_She's being friendly._ His mind told him and he was happy. _She is trying to interact with me._

Aeris smiled. She thanked Yuffie silently for being so friendly with Nefilim. She knew that Nefilim needed to interact with other people more often.

"Nefilim…" Tifa spoke up.

"Yeah?" Nefilim said, finally changing to slang instead of using the formal 'yes'.

"What do you think made Cloud run off like this? He would usually do this if he were angry about something." Tifa said, her voice hollow.

Nefilim studied Tifa for a minute. _She cares deeply for Strife. Perhaps she is in love? She just doesn't want to admit it._

"I don't know," he shrugged. "But I don't think he was angry at all. I think it was Jenova."

-----

Red sniffed the floor of Cloud's room carefully. He could smell some old tracks. There were some that were fresh that led to the cracked wall. Then he followed it out to the door.

_Cloud must have went by the door. And he went so silently that none of us heard. Now why would he want to do that?_ He wondered.

He opened the door with his paws and followed Cloud's scent. He stopped in the middle of the street. Cloud's scent was still there, but it was jumbled with many other foreign scents.

He ran back into the house. He knew that Cloud was heading for the tunnels to get out of the underground city.

-----

"Why the hell would Cloud do that?" Zack pondered aloud. "It don't sound like him. Are you sure old man?"

Nefilim ignored Zack's nickname for him for the millionth time. "I'm not absolutely sure… but why else would Jenova be so happy? She knew that I was no longer under her control… and she was angry as hell last time I checked… and then she's happy. Now Cloud's disappeared and Jenova could control Cloud easily… if I could control Cloud and I wasn't even at my full power…"

Tifa felt worried. "But… but… Cloud was confused then. He knows the truth now."

"I'm sure he's still a bit insecure," Nefilim gave Tifa a pitying look. "I know that's not reassuring, but this is not the time to be."

Red's padded footsteps were heard. "Cloud's heading for the tunnels!"

"_What!_" Tifa stood up from the chair she was sitting in.

"Damn! Get yo' gear and yo' movin'!" Barret shouted, smacking his machine gun arm a few times, then checking all of his materia on his Aurora Armlet to make sure none of them were cracked or somehow damaged. When he found none, he stood up straight and ready.

Cid snapped out his Venus Gospel and stared at it for a while. "Man… I can't believe I'm going to use this… against Cloud…"

Vincent cocked his gun. In his deep, low, and mysterious voice he said, "Are you so sure that you will use it against Cloud?"

The pilot sighed and shook his head. "Well… Vincent… man ya know Cloud… with Jenova after his ass… he don't stand a chance…"

Tifa's back stiffened. "Yes he does! Just because you all don't _believe _in him, doesn't mean that he will fall so easily to Jenova!"

She then ran out of the room, leaving everyone silent. "Geez… someone's having her monthly visitor…" Yuffie muttered.

"Yuffie! That's no way to talk about Tifa! She's just worried about Cloud!" Aeris said sharply.

Yuffie groaned and muttered something about 'everyone being on her ass all day.'

"Do you not all see? Now that Cloud is gone… we're no longer a team. We have lost our leader and now we're all broken up." Red said. "I say that we elect a new leader immediately."

Barret cracked his neck, his boots squelching against the ground as he did so. "New leader? Nah… nobody can fill in that spot for Cloud…" He groaned in relief as his back cracked.

Nefilim thought for a while, then he smiled as a thought came to him. "Zack… maybe you can fill in Cloud's spot since he was nearly you…?" He left the question hanging in the air.

The black haired man stared back at his former commanding officer for a long time. "Man… I just can't… I ain't a leader. How about you? You were general and the best one around."

"Oh _yes_. I'm sure that all good leaders nearly kill their second in command and a soldier in their troop." Nefilim said sarcastically, looking away.

Cid groaned again. "Aww hell… just pick someone! Come on! First you pick the guy who Cloud was imitating and now you pick a f---in' crazy…" he stopped when he saw the look that Aeris gave him. He turned beet red and turned to Nefilim. "Sorry…"

The silver-haired man looked away. "Cid's right," his voice hoarse with pain. "Pick someone."

Zack quickly picked Nefilim. Yuffie thought of it for a while, then spoke up. "Well… since nobody else is up for it… I guess it's Nefilim…"

"Alright fine," the other man said, then paused, as if waiting for any comments. Nobody said anything. "Good… let's go then."

-----

_Where am I going?_

He was walking. Nothing was in his ears but the call of Mother. Only Mother. His footsteps were light on the dirt ground, and only faint signs of his footsteps were left.

_Why the hell am I going this way?_

_Because Mother told you to find her._

That answer was good enough for him. He continued walking onward, ducking under as he came through each tunnel. Left, right, forward, left, forward, forward, right, left…

He wasn't sure where he was going anymore, but his feet went on at its own will. He could hear his own breath, going in and out, and how frantic it sounded.

With every breath, his footsteps followed, both going in a rhythmic pace. His footsteps echoed softly, and he was reminded of the first time that he saw Aeris.

_Quiet, echoing footsteps were heard in the small church. He looked at Aeris, noticing how her back had stiffened. _

_She stood up quickly, patting the dirt off her hands. She then smoothed out her dress and pursed her lips. Her head turned slowly toward the direction of the noise._

"_Cloud! Don't approach him!" she yelled as he walked toward the sound of the footsteps._

_The man standing there couldn't have been more than twenty-seven or so. He had a bushel of red fiery hair upon his head. He was dressed in a nice crisp blue tux. He might've looked more—if there was a word to describe him—important if it weren't for the fact that the top of suit was unbuttoned to reveal a messy white undergarment. In his hand was a nightstick that made him look a little threatening… though not much._

_The world 'Turk' and 'Reno' immediately registered in his head. The man strutted toward them, looking a bit drunk._

"_Aeris! Run!" he called out to the girl, whirling around, but found that she was already many steps ahead of him. She already had her hand on the back door's doorknob._

_She motioned for him to follow her. He ran after her, taking a look back. Reno was stepping through Aeris' little garden, not noticing that he had broken nearly all of the flowers' necks._

_The next room was not what he had expected. It would've been dark, but a hole through the roof was the room's source of light. Broken planks of wood laid scattered all about. Wooden steps led up to a pathway… that was broken._

_He grabbed Aeris' arm and began running up the steps. He looked back, Reno was coming… with Shinra soldiers._

_They ran. Sound of machine gun fire roared at them. He ducked his head, pulling Aeris down with him. A bullet whizzed by his ear and he snapped his head back, gingerly touching his ear to see if it was still attached to his head. When he found that it had not been flying away with the bullet, he sighed in relief. They began running again._

_As soon as he saw the broken edges of the wood, he stopped, feeling Aeris smash into his back. He lurched forward a bit, then steadied himself to a stop. "Are you ready to jump?" he whispered to Aeris._

_Aeris looked at the broken edges of the wood and her eyes widened with fright. She nodded her head slowly, unsure of what to say or do._

_He jumped first. His entire body was flying in the air. The exhilarating feeling lasted no more than ten seconds… and then he landed. The wood under him creaked dangerously loud, but to his relief, held firm. He slowly got up from his position and looked back at Aeris._

_She stared at the hole for a minute, as if she were wondering how in the world had she gotten into this. She got ready to jump…_

"_Don't let the Ancient escape!"_

_At the harsh command, the soldiers shot once again. Bullets flew at Aeris, and she fell forward, screaming._

_He screamed with her, watching helplessly as her body slipped off the side and fell into the air. Her eyes were wide and frightened._

_His body wanted him to jump off and grab her, and comfort her before they both fell to their death… but his mind stopped him. He stood frozen, wanting to be sure that she had not been shot._

**_She looks beautiful…_ **_the sudden thought came to his mind._

_And all he could do was reach out and watch her fall…_

"AERIS!" he shouted out, and then realized that he was alone.

_Aeris isn't here. She's with Sephiroth._ Anger flashed… then it was gone and replaced by fear.

He looked back. Tunnels surrounded him and all of them looked the same. He wondered why he was even there. "What the hell is going on?" he muttered to himself.

_Mother…_ the sudden thought came to his mind.

"Mother?" he wondered aloud… who the hell was…

"JENOVA!" he yelled.

There was a triumphant laugh, and it was not just in his mind.

"Thank you very much son… for bringing me here…"

-----

AVALANCHE had finally managed to catch up Tifa, who was already half way down the street. She looked like she was about to cry… or already had. When they had announced that Sephiroth was their leader, she gave a look that stated that she wanted to object, but she said nothing.

Nefilim thought of a plan of using two teams. One with less firepower than the other. That team would distract Jenova and fight her, though a handicapped team, they would be enough to keep her occupied. Then the other team would attack when she was vulnerable. It was a simple plan, yes… but it usually worked. He didn't want to get into all the specifics because he remembered that AVALANCHE, though pretty good… weren't professionals like his men. They would not be able to carry out a full-fledged plan without screwing up.

"_Mother?"_

"_JENOVA!"_

Whose voice was that? Strife? "Damn it Cloud…" he whispered, causing everyone to look at him.

_There was the sound of laughter. "Thank you very much son… for bringing me here…"_

"SHIT!" he yelled, sounding too much like Cid.

"Hey, uhh kid… that's my word…" Cid said, though everyone ignored him.

Aeris looked at him in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Strife… you idiot…" he muttered, clenching his fists, looking up at the others who had confused expressions on their faces, he said, "Cloud's given Jenova a nice view of this place… and she's here now…"

_Cloud… you wouldn't…_ Tifa thought. _No… this isn't right! Sephiroth's lying!_

He knew that he had to add a little bit to the plan or it wouldn't work. Jenova would get here fast and she would destroy everyone here, and then what would be the use of fighting her anymore?

"Alright I've got a plan…" he said… immediately Yuffie groaned.

"Make this simple would you? I hate plans full of army gobbledygook that I don't understand," she gave him a hopeful look.

"Sure," he said smiling on the inside, then paused for a few seconds, trying to keep out all of the military jargon. "We'll split into two groups. Alright, one group will be composed of Zack, Vincent, Aeris, and Yuffie. Zack will be the group leader. The other group will be composed of Barret, Cid, Red, Tifa, and me. Zack, your group is a smaller party and will go first to the tunnels so you can distract Jenova. All you have to do is keep her occupied until we come. Ok, my group, we're going to stay back and evacuate every civilian here and get as many Cetra to help us fight. Aeris, since you know the tunnels well, you will be able to guide your team. Afterwards… when we meet… we'll try and separate Cloud and Jenova… and get him out of his trance. Any objections… comments?"

Red nodded his head and spoke up. "With all those Cetra… how are we ever going to get to the tunnels in time?"

Nefilim sighed, and then looked up. "Get all the men and women from ages eighteen to thirty." Then seeing all their shocked expressions, he added lowly. "It must be done… if we are to win this. None of you have seen war… have you?"

"_Aahhhh!" _

_He whirled around and by instinct, stabbed the man charging at him with the masamune. There was a sickening noise as the blade and the man met. His colors showed that he was a soldier from Wutai and an officer. _

_The man groaned, blood seeping from the wound and his mouth. He fell backwards as he kicked him and drew the long sword back. _

_Immediately, he turned midway and stabbed the man behind him. Gunshots cracked all around him and there were screams of agony and cries of defeat. _

_The only thing he could smell was the scent of blood. It used to make him feel sick, but now he was immune to it, just like killing._

_He charged into a group of Wutai soldiers and began mercilessly killing each of them. They surrounded him, casting spells and stabbing with weapons, some even shooting. _

_He quickly cast Reflect, Barrier, and M-Barrier. All of the spells the soldiers cast were flung back at them. He then focused his power on his Comet materia. _

_Large boulders rained down from the sky and smashed into the soldiers. Some screamed as a boulder crushed a body part or them… some never had the chance to. _

_Those that remained he quickly finished off with a few sword thrusts. He looked around, his soldiers were being slaughtered. He decided to issue a retreat. It would be hopeless to remain. This battle they lost._

_He got ready to bellow 'retreat', when something hit him from the back. He flew forward and landed in a puddle of blood from a carcass of a man whose face was shot up so badly it didn't even look human. He looked back at what hit him. Godo._

_Godo casted Trine and immediately he got up and flung himself away from the spell. He flung Matra Magic back. _

_The other man ducked and cast Bolt3. He was shaken badly as the spell hit. He ran forward, making sure that all his barriers were up. Then he stabbed at Godo, who dodged the attack and casted a bone-shattering spell that he wasn't sure what it was…_

"Nefilim!"

He was shaken out of his thoughts. "Yes?"

"Man… this guys crazy as hell…" Barret muttered to Cid who agreed quietly.

He heard the comment but decided not to say anything. "Let's go."

* * *

Ok... sorry... I've kinda been dead this week. Um... thanks to Yuka-san because she's the only one that's been reviewing. (Cries) Man... is this story that bad that no one wants to review for it? Plz review! Reviewing motivates me! Umm... thanks for reading this... and plz review! Plz! Plz! And um... I'll be changing this story's title to Paths That Will Never Cross Again 


	21. Chapter 20

Oh yeah! I got the Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Soundtrack!

* * *

Cloud moaned and covered his head with his hands. How could _he_ have done this? He had just brought doom upon all the people of the Promised Land _and_ the Planet!

"Ssssssssonnnn…" Jenova crooned, her tentacles gently stroking his face.

He turned away and spat at her. She snapped her tentacles back, a large smile upon her monster face. "_I'm not your son!_" he yelled, attempting to slash at her with the Ultima Weapon.

She caught his arm and her grip tightened. She said in a sickly sweet voice, "Tut, tut, tut, bad, bad boy… not listening to his _mommy_," she said the last part mockingly. When he attempted to turn his head away, she turned his head back forcefully with a tentacle.

His eyes were immediately attracted to her glowing eyes. They were golden and so evil… so much evil that he needed to turn away. Then he found that he could not turn away. He wanted to scream, but he was frozen. He wanted to cry, but he could not.

"Son…" she muttered.

"M-o-no! No! Moth… you're not my mother!" he screamed and turned away.

She grabbed his face and turned it towards her. "_You're my son and **you know it!**_**" **

"Gah!" he cried as he was once again frozen by her glare, he paused… confused. "Mother?"

"Yes, yes, son. I'm here," she purred, gently brushing his face.

-----

"_Sssssssssonnnn…" _

"_**I'm not your son!**"_

"_Tut, tut, tut, bad, bad, boy… not listening to his **mommy**."_

"_Son…"_

"_M-o-no! No! Moth… you're not my mother!" _

"_**You're my son and you know it**!"_

"_Gah! … Mother?"_

"_Yes, yes, son. I'm here."_

Nefilim knew he had to hurry. "Quick! Let's move! Cloud's under her influence already!"

"Oh Cloud…" Aeris said, her voice full of concern.

Nefilim felt a twang of jealousy, but he quickly shook it away. Zack spoke to his group, "Alright guys, let's annoy the hell outta Jenova."

"Split up. Get everyone out of here and make sure that you get everyone between eighteen and thirty that is Cetra," he said, then paused when Barret patted his machine gun arm. "And don't use force."

Everyone began filing out. He slowly followed them. He watched as Zack's group set off at a jog, and his own team began speeding down into houses, knocking on every door. He only watched them; he knew that he couldn't go around knocking on doors, unless he wanted to break every bone in his body.

He almost smiled when a woman saw Barret. Her face drained of color and she looked as if she was about to scream.

"Dun worry. I'm not gonna bite or nuthin'…"

"Who… who…"

Yuffie and Tifa had been doing the best in persuading people to go so far. Most people fell for Yuffie's cute little girl act and others drooled over Tifa, who did the innocent, beautiful lady act.

After a while, Nefilim's group came back, Yuffie having people follow her and croon over her as if she were a child (she looked a bit indignant for being called a 'cute kid'), Tifa having people drooling after her (most men… with the exception of a few… er… women… who knew the Cetra were homosexual? ), Barret having people with shaking knees, and Red XIII with some people who were patting him like a house pet (much to his annoyance.)

They all had shocked looks on his face when they saw Nefilim standing there, smiling mischievously. "_Here's some… materia… for self-defense…_" Yuffie dropped an Aurora Armlet filled with materia into his hands, but also dropping in a few hateful glances.

"Why'd you give him materia at all? He could get _his_ ass-kicked fo' all I care. He made us do this all by ourselves…" Barret muttered angrily.

The Cetra seemed taken back when they saw Sephiroth standing there. Some got ready to leave, but the silver-haired man spoke up. "Stop. I know you all don't trust me and I don't blame you for that, but please listen!" they all stopped in unison and stared at him, frozen. "This is the group that saved the Planet from Jenova and… me… a few years ago. They are called AVALANCHE. The man who led AVALANCHE, Cloud Strife… he's in trouble… and Jenova… she's here."

Everyone gasped. Some yelled, "You brought her here!"

Nefilim shook his head sadly. "No… I didn't bring her here. Cloud… he… he brought her here unintentionally." As soon as he said this, it was met with yells of 'liar!'.

_Just had to rub that in, didn't you, Sephiroth?_ Tifa thought darkly.

He continued, "It doesn't matter. She's here and we need to help Cloud. There's already some AVALANCHE members there, trying to hold her off, but they will not be enough. Jenova is stronger than ever, and we'll need the full support of the Cetra."

"And who said that we'll believe you?" a woman sneered.

"Alright… don't believe me… _and when Jenova comes to **kill you all, DON'T BLAME ME!**_" he yelled and began walking toward the tunnels, his fists clenched.

Everyone was quiet for a while. Barret looked moved. "Hey! If ya all ain't followin' him! I am! At least I'll be dyin' fer somethin'! Unlike ya cowards!"

He began to follow Sephiroth, and the rest of AVALANCHE joined in, even Tifa.

Some began to follow the group, and some stayed, still unsure. "Barret… I have to thank you, for helping me out," Nefilim said.

"Huh?" Barret looked surprised that Sephiroth would thank him, then he quickly added, "Uh… yea… sure… sure… it was nuthin'." He was glad that his skin was dark because no one saw him blush with embarrassment.

Nefilim looked back, more than half of the Cetra were following him and even more were joining, though they were unsure. He looked down at the Aurora Armlet that Yuffie had given him and he smiled softly, these people were his friends. He had friends…

Just as they were about the reach the tunnels, he stopped. Everyone stopped with him. He turned around and spoke to AVALANCHE. "I want to thank you all… for coming. I want to thank you all for accepting me. I wanted to say all this before we go into the tunnels because I just may never have another chance to say it after this. And last of all… thank you for being my friends."

Then he turned around and ducked under a tunnel and disappeared from site.

-----

Earlier…

Aeris gave a disgusted look as Jenova stroked Cloud's cheek. She saw Zack counting down from three with his fingers. When he reached one, he made a cutting motion in the air. All of them got ready to cast their spells and Aeris quickly casted Barrier, M-Barrier, Wall, and Great Gospel on every one of them. When Zack nodded, they released their spells..

Vincent cast Comet2, while Zack cast Quake3, and Cid cast Gravity. It was perfect, with both aerial and ground attacks; Jenova would be hit from all ends.

Jenova wasn't expecting the attacks and screamed as the ground cracked underneath her and it shook. The cracks separated Cloud and Jenova. A large boulder flew at Jenova and knocked her backwards.

Cid's Gravity spell smashed her flat into two-dimensional. When she returned to three-dimensional, she had been drained of her energy. She looked around her eyes full of anger and hate. "AVALANCHE!" she hissed angrily and began destroying all the boulders in her path with her tentacles.

"Hey, hey! Long time no meet, b----!" Cid yelled, dishing out a few Fire3 spells.

"Highwind!" Jenova shouted, casting Reflect. "Maybe I ought wash out your dirty mouth!"

"Oh shit!" Cid screamed, and hurriedly threw up a M-Barrier, wincing in pain as his own spells burned him.

Zack jumped around her back and threw a physical blow with his Buster Blade. Jenova whirled around, grabbed the sword with her tentacles and sent him flying backwards into a tunnel.

Vincent knew this was his chance. He took aim and squeezed off as many shots as he could with his Death Penalty.

The bullets got Jenova in the back and she screamed, the cry filling the air. All of them covered their ears and fell to the ground, her cry became a spell and locked them to the ground. Cloud stood there, motionless, immune to Jenova's cry.

"What the hell is this!" Cid shouted, when he found that he could no longer move. "I didn't know she had this power!"

"Sephiroth did explain that she would be more powerful this time," Vincent said.

"No shit!" the pilot yelled back. "Ya know… I'm getting tired of laying on the ground!"

Jenova laughed. She turned her back to them. "Watch how useless your attacks are, humans!" she spat, her voice distorting and becoming more deeper.

They watched, open-mouthed as the bullets Vincent shot into her flew out, and dropped to the ground. The wounds they caused forced themselves together.

"I'm _this _close to losing my lunch!" Cid yelled, trying to move his fingers, then adding dryly. "I would show you if I had the use of my fingers."

Jenova laughed. "This will be amusing!"

She got ready to countdown.

Aeris screamed. Cid yelled, "This is not f---in' fair! I've got a life to live ya know!"

Zack just watched motionless, his Buster Blade lying on the ground next to him. He was defeated. "Man… sorry I failed you guys…" he muttered to himself and sighed, waiting for his death to come.

Vincent watched, thinking of Lucrecia and how he would never be able to see her again. He never thought it possible, but a tear escaped his eye.

-----

Nefilim felt the power emitting from Jenova and he yelled out, dashing into the tunnels. The rest of AVALANCHE looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces and ran after him. The Cetra, all looking around nervously because they knew this was the way back to the open air.

-----

"Oh shit… oh shit… oh shit… oh shit…" Cid murmured as Jenova counted to '1'.

Suddenly, a Bolt3 spell flashed through the air and hit her, causing her to knock out of her concentration and lose the Ultima spell. (In other words something burned and it didn't smell nice…)

-----

All of them looked at Nefilim in alarm. He had broken their cover, and it was not like him to defy his own orders to save a life. He gave the motion for them to stay and to wait.

He nodded to them and leaped out from their hiding place before anyone else could do anything. He landed on the ground in a smooth motion, landing on one knee and placing a hand down for support. He slowly got up, his eyes narrowed.

"Ahh… it's you…"

"Jenova."

"So have you returned to mother, son?" Jenova asked, leering.

"Yeah, I've returned to my mother," everyone's head snapped up in alarm, except for those who were frozen to the floor. "But it's definitely not you," everyone sighed with relief. "You're too damn ugly." He added in, returning her evil grin.

Yuffie nearly giggled, but she kept it in and held onto a stern face. She couldn't believe it! Sephiroth joking at a time like this? He wouldn't even joke around when _everyone else_ was joking around.

"It's about time! I've just had enough of eating dirt, you know!" Cid yelled out, grinning. "Oh and yeah, don't make her scream!"

Nefilim turned his head. "I don't know about getting you off the floor… you seem to be having quite some fun... doing all that yelling…"

The pilot began screaming, "What the hell is wrong with you! You come here to help us and yet you don't get us off the floor. I mean come on! We've helped you out of a tight spot and look what you do—"

"Cid, shut up," Vincent muttered. "As if this situation isn't already bad enough with you shooting your mouth off."

"HEY!"

A tentacle flew at the silver-haired man. Nefilim agilely leaped out of the way and cast Ice3 on it.

The room suddenly turned cold as the spell whirled around the tentacle and froze it. Jenova opened her mouth to scream but suddenly, Tifa flew out of nowhere and smashed her fists into her face.

_Go Tifa! _Yuffie thought mentally. _Give her the old one two!_

The monster's tentacles whipped around, trying to grab the girl who was smashing her fists into her (its?) face.

Another tentacle came to grab at Tifa, and when it found its target, Yuffie cried out and threw her Conformer. It whirled around in the air and cut free the tentacle that held onto the martial artist. When it came back, Yuffie caught it, and found that she was gripping something wet and sticky.

She dropped the shuriken onto the ground and looked at it for a long time. She grabbed t he purplish liquid on her arm and found that it stretched like saliva. "EWWWW!" she screamed and began to hurriedly wipe her hands on the ground. "What is this stuff!"

Jenova, though she couldn't see, directed the remaining tentacles that she had (which was about a million more…) and they began to whirl around in circles.

"WTF is happening? What the hell is she doing!" Cid yelled. "It don't look good!"

A fireball formed in them. "Aww shit!" Barret shouted, running out of the tunnel. "Nice one Yuf!" he said sarcastically.

Red ran after the large man. "That was uncalled for, Barret!"

Many of the Cetra made a dash for it and escaped just in time. The fireball hit, and the unlucky ones were crushed under tons of metal, rock, and rubble.

Finally, a tentacle finally managed to make its way to Tifa. It grabbed the girl and threw her far off.

Tifa screamed as she went flying in the air and landed painfully on the ground. The breath was knocked out of her. She quickly made sure that nothing was broken, and then she got slowly and painfully got up. She groaned, she had bruised something pretty bad.

The alien punched at Nefilim, who ducked it, and punched the tentacle hard, hoping he did some lasting damage; instead it grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her.

"What the hell do you want!" he yelled.

Jenova grabbed his head and forced him to look at her. "Listen to your own mother, boy, if you know what's good for you!"

"Nefilim!" Aeris cried out.

"My mother is Lucrecia! You are nothing to me!" Nefilim shouted and spat in her face.

He saw her eyes glowing… and not just with anger. She began laughing. "You won't doubt me, boy!"

He laughed also. "That trick doesn't work on me!"

"_Who is your mother, boy!_" she screamed into his face, some spittle flying in the air.

"LUCRECIA!"

She screamed in anger and slapped him with a tentacle, leaving a long bloody mark on his cheek. Turning to Cloud she said vilely, "Kill the others, my son. _All of them_. They are all traitors. Start with the one over there." She flicked a tentacle toward Tifa.

"Yes mother," Cloud said mechanically and walked toward Tifa.

_Cloud… you wouldn't do this! _Tifa thought, petrified. _No!_

"Die, traitor," he said unemotionally.

"Cloud?" her voice came out as a frightened whisper. "It's Tifa… your best friend… since you were five… don't you remember?"

Cloud laughed coldly. His hands went around Tifa's throat, then seizing her tightly, he picked her up. "Friends? Friends you say… hahaha. Friends are made from love. Love is nothing, a fool's creation. I am beyond all that. _Love is for mortals!_"

"Cloud, no!" Barret yelled. "She's your best friend! She helped you remember the truth!"

The blonde man's head turned to Barret. "Need I repeat myself?"

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Cid gnashed his teeth together. "What is your f---ing problem!"

Tifa's eyes filled with tears. Her lungs burned for air and she began to gasp for it, though nothing came in. "…C…loud…" she choked out, and closed her eyes, not believing that her life could end this way… in the hands of her best friend.

-----

"Aeris?" Gast peered into the house. The house was dead quiet. "Nefilim? Cloud? Tifa? Anybody?"

Ifalna and Lucrecia followed him in. "Oh no! Sephiroth1" Lucrecia cried, finding the house empty.

Suddenly, the ground shook and all of them dropped flat onto the floor, their hands protecting their heads. Gast didn't enjoy the feeling of the cold, polished, wooden floor… it was quite uncomfortable. The rumbling then stopped.

"The tunnel!" Gast exclaimed, suddenly realizing where the rumblings erupted.

The three quickly got up and smoothed out their clothes. They quickly ran out of the door (not forgetting to close it of course), their hearts sinking with worry.

- ----

Nefilim couldn't believe his eyes. Cloud was killing Tifa! Alarms went off in his head. He looked down at the Aurora Armlet that the materia lover (guess who that is) had given him. He still could…

"Bolt3!" he yelled, focusing all his power onto the magic materia.

Cloud was knocked off his feet, his grip loosening on Tifa. He landed on the ground, screaming with fear.

Tifa gasped for air and coughed. The air tasted so sweet to her burning lungs. She looked at Nefilim… who was gasping for breath from using so much energy into the blast. _He_ had saved her! Her worst enemy!

As the blonde man lunged for her again, Barret thought quickly and flung out, "Hah! Ya murderous bastard! You're jus' as bad as Nefilim himself! Ya know wut? It was all your fault that Nibel got burned down!"

The blonde man froze. Tifa understood and joined in. She put on a mask of hate and began screaming. "I hate you Cloud! You burned down Nibelheim! You killed daddy! You killed your own mother! I HATE YOU!"

_Why do these weak mortals' words affect me so?_ He wondered as his heart ached with pain. _I do not even know them!_

"They're brainwashing you! Kill them!" Jenova commanded and put on a fake voice of concern. "They're going to hurt mother if you get hurt!"

He screamed in anger. How dare these… humans! They would hurt his mother! He shook away all his doubts and ran toward that brown haired girl… the girl who had affected him the most.

"NO!" Aeris cried, tears slipping out from her eyes, she couldn't take much more of this. She forced all her powers together and leaped toward Cloud, not sure how she was free of Jenova's bonds.

The force of her leap made Cloud stumble backwards. He snarled and drew his blade. In one swift motion, he stabbed Aeris.

"C…loud…?" she stammered weakly, blood flowed from her wound.

Her hands attempted to block the wound that he had given her, but blood escaped beyond her fingers. She sank to the floor. This was a bad imitation of the time in the City of the Ancients.

"Aeris!" all of them called out simultaneously.

Cloud laughed coldly and pulled his sword out from Aeris' body, giving her a kick to free his blade completely. "Another traitor gone," he said, unsure why his words sounded so foreign to him.

"NOOO! AERIS!" Nefilim screamed, he wasn't absolutely sure why it hurt so much to see the girl on the ground, lying in her own pool of blood.

_Cloud walked toward the target. She opened her eyes from praying and smiled at him._

"_NOW!" mother yelled into his mind._

_He hesitated for a moment. Why did his mother want him to kill an innocent girl such as her? She had done nothing wrong. _

"_Go!"_

_He knew he had to. He dropped out of the sky. His hair flew around him… this seemed to all go in slow motion. In one slow movement, he stabbed her._

_There was a sickening sound of sword going through flesh and bone… and then nothing…_

_She dropped onto the altar, the blood mixing quickly with the water below._

_He knew he should've been glad, but… he felt no pride for killing an innocent girl. _

Jenova cackled. "Good, my son!"

_She had said the same thing to me when I killed Aeris…_ Nefilim thought, heavily.

"YOU MURDERER!" Nefilim shouted, pulling free of Jenova's tentacles and charged toward Cloud.

The blonde man swung the Ultima Weapon, but the silver-haired man ducked under the blow and punched upwards.

The blow landed hard on Cloud's stomach and sent him flying into the ground many yards away.

"Holy ----! I never thought I'd be saying this but… go Nefilim!" Cid cheered, trying his best to raise his head, but failed, instead making his fingers twitch slightly.

"Damn it Cloud! I can't believe you!" Tifa called out, her face wet with tears. She stared at Aeris… was she gone… again?

Cloud slowly got up. He began to laugh. "Very good… brother…"

Nefilim was caught off guard. "What the hell? Brother?"

"You're part of my family…" Jenova laughed. "You'll never be able to escape it! You have my cells!"

Nefilim got ready to sock the living s--- out of Cloud. He could feel the burning anger and the pain building up… and the adrenaline pumping in his veins. He wondered… was this way that Cloud felt when Aeris died on the altar?

Cloud jumped forward and swung the blade again, Nefilim back flipped so the blow missed. Then he struck Cloud in the face.

The blonde man's face remained bent from the force that Nefilim punched him He slowly turned his head to face him, his neck cracking loudly. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, gathering up all the coppery taste, and then spitting it out. A bit of phlegm mixed with saliva and blood landed on the concrete floor, diluting the white color of it to dark red. Nefilim's punch had drove his cheek into his teeth, causing him to bleed. "Son of a bitch. You're really pissing me off." He said in a very un-Cloudish manner.

Nefilim sneered. "Same here!"

But he wasn't sneering anymore when Cloud called out, "Omnislash!"

* * *

Oh what's this? A cliffy? Ooops... well looks like you gotta read on! LOL

Umm... thanks to Yuka-san, DemonSurfer, X13, cranky-chan, and Blaze for reviewing... I'm very humbled. Thank you all so much for reviewing! Thank you all... so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much! (Cries in joy)


	22. Chapter 21

A crowd had appeared around the tunnels. "No!" Professor Gast yelled and ran towards them.

He shoved people out of the way, ignoring their curses towards him and walked to the entrance of the tunnels.

"Oh…" he murmured.

In front of him no longer was the entrance… it had caved in. Rocks laid crumbled on the ground and boulders covered the scene. Pieces of rubble stuck out and dust was still thick in the air, making it hard to breath.

Gast immediately covered his face with his white lab coat.

"Jared!"

He whirled around, Lucrecia and Ifalna ran up next to him, panting hard.

"AVALANCHE must have went through here with Sephiroth and Aeris…" he muttered to himself.

-----

"Omnislash!"

_I remember this move…_

The two men stood, facing each other, neither of them speaking. Though they were so different… their lives were so similar.

_He stared at Cloud, not looking away. Mako turquoise eyes met mako blue eyes. In the darkness, there was a slight gust. He felt his hair fly with the wind._

_He knew that this was the end. The last fight. _

And he was so sure… that he would win this last fight… 

_He watched in amusement as an aura of reddish yellow light went around the blonde man. _

_**A limit break**. He thought musingly. This was going to be interesting._

_The light died out and another sort of golden light went around the blonde man. The silver haired man's smile was gone. This limit break was different… this failure clone… so much power…_

_The blonde man raised his blade, a gold light emitting from the blade. He strafed forward, so quickly that he himself had not expected it. With a new surge of power, he raised his blade high behind his back and brought it down heavily onto the silver haired man, putting all his pain and anger into this one blow._

_He felt his eyes widen in surprised. The failure had moved so quickly that he had not even sensed it himself! He moved to block the blow that he anticipated, but found that he had already been struck._

_The blonde man struck so quickly that light flared around the two. He never knew that there was such power in a failure!_

_He watched as his rival jumped back, then jumped high up, ready to strike the final blow that would end it all. _

_He watched in horror and awe as the blonde man jumped many feet up off the ground. How could a failure have this much power! Another golden light shone, then entwined with a light blue one. _

_And then the man struck. _

_His eyes were opened wide. He still could not believe that he would be finished this way. He would not be finished this way…_

_He raised himself back up, mustering up all his energy. He would sill have to try… try and wound the blonde man somehow… he would not lose this way…_

_But he could not. Cuts appeared all over his skin, something ran down his forehead. And then he realized that it was blood. Finally he understood… he was mortal…_

_And here it comes… _Nefilim thought and prepared himself for death.

-----

_Child…_

_Planet?_

_Child…_

_Planet is that you?_

_Aeris… wake up… child of Cetra…_

_Umm…what?_

_You must finish your task. _

_Task?_

_Sephiroth… the fallen one…_

_Ohh… you mean Nefilim. _

_Child… you must wake up…_

_But I'm dead! I've been stabbed._

_You must… wake… up…_

_Planet?…_

_Planet!_

-----

There were despaired cries of "my son!", "my daughter!", "my child!" or something close to them. Gast looked around to find that there were no young people in sight but ones that were just about ready to be teens, teens, or just young children. Not one single person from about eighteen to thirty in sight. "Ifalna… we need to get to them!" he shouted over the din of the voices around them.

"We'll need a lot of power to move the debris!" she shouted back.

"Then… we'll need to call to all of them… won't we?" Gast put on a smile that Ifalna hadn't seen since Aeris was born.

-----

Earlier…

Tifa had recovered her breath and slowly crawled toward Aeris' body. "Aeris… Aeris…" she whispered, gently shaking the girl.

She grabbed her by the arms… they were still warm.

_But corpses are warm a little while after they die…_ she thought, her skin crawling with fear.

She gently pulled the girl around and set her body to another site, where the ground was free of blood. The front of her pink satin dress was bloody and it seemed more blood was flowing from the wound.

"Tifa! What're you…" Yuffie exclaimed but was cut short.

"Shh!" she hissed, making a cutting motion and pointing to the fight between Cloud and Sephiroth.

Yuffie gave a weird look that said, "why the hell are you moving a dead body for?" And she gave a look back that said, "because she isn't quite dead". The ninja's mouth became a big 'O' and there were no more questions asked.

She put her hand on Aeris' nose. She could feel a faint, warm breath on her finger. "Still alive…" she muttered to herself, happy and yet surprised.

The martial artist checked the wound. Blood still spewed author's note: a little juicy don't you think? out at a quick rate. She quickly casted a heal spell on it (the strongest one she could muster) and the bleeding slowed. She checked her pockets, found a potion, and gently poured it onto Aeris' wound.

The blood flow had completely stopped. And as it did, Tifa realized where the real wound was. Just above the heart. With a wound to the heart, she would've died almost instantaneously. She had perhaps ruptured an aorta… but she would still be at risk of dying if she did not get immediate medical attention or get to a healer.

"You there!" she called out, to a Cetra girl who stood frozen, watching the fight between Sephiroth and Cloud.

The girl turned her head slowly, as if she were in a dream-like trance. Her eyes were bright, full of terror, and she seemed to not be able to grasp what she saw. She stared at Tifa for a long time, then pointed to her chest as if to say "you're calling to me?"

Tifa nodded.

The girl walked toward her, cautiously, her chestnut hair waving in the wind. She kneeled next to her and her hazel eyes gazed at her intently as if asking her what she wanted.

"Heal Aeris…" she whispered. "She's still alive."

The girl looked down at Aeris for a long time. She then looked at the wound and stared back at Tifa with a long, scared look. She was about to shake her head, but Tifa grabbed her by the collar, her bloodstained hands smudging onto the girl's white cotton shirt.

She opened her mouth to scream but Tifa shook her head. "Listen, girl. This is Aeris. She was the one that died for the Planet. Yes _died_. She's also one of my _best_ friends. She's very hurt right now and I don't want to lose her for _forever_. Got it? So I would appreciate it lots if you would help me right now and heal the girl who died for the Planet… and yet got not credit for it. _Care to help?_" she said in a low growl.

The girl made a scared grunting noise in her throat and her eyes went wide and she nodded her head quickly.

"What's your name?" Tifa asked.

"A… Arriya (Ashort a-rai long I-ya)…" she squeaked.

"Can… can you heal her?"

The girl nodded her head again. She moved toward the unconscious Aeris and folded her hands and got on her knees. She closed her eyes and began the healing.

Arriya's hair slowly floated up with the power of the spell. She was amazed at how much power was in this frail girl. The power even hummed gently through her.

She looked wearily at Jenova, hoping that the monster wouldn't feel the power, but the alien was oblivious to anything but the fight between her 'sons'. She looked back toward Arriya.

_She looked like Aeris when she was on the alter…_

-----

The orangish flame wrapped around Cloud, signaling that he was going to use a limit break. Nefilim closed his eyes and prayed to the Cetra to forgive him and for hurting his mother to die like this…

Cloud smirked. This bastard deserved to die and he was going to enjoy ending all this.

He could feel the power surging through him… what thrill… to feel the power… the power of the true Cetra!

---

"Jared… this… this is crazy…" Ifalna hissed to him as he pushed her to the front of the crowd.

"Oh calm down, woman," the professor said, squeezing her shoulders in a husbandly manner.

Ifalna gave him a crazed look. "You're not the one doing this!"

He made a shush noise, and gave Ifalna a glance that told her to begin.

Ifalna cleared her throat. She had never felt this nervous in her life. Everyone's eyes seemed to be on her, and her knee began to quiver. "Uhh… may I have your attention, please!" she called out, and waited for everyone to be silent, but only some quieted and focused on her. She began again, trying to calm herself. "My daughter… Aeris… she is also trapped inside the tunnels. I ask you all to please listen to me!"

She looked back at Gast who nodded at her, and then she looked back at the crowd, which had finally given her their full attention.

"You all know Aeris. She was the one who had died to bring Holy to the Planet and was the one that sent the Lifestream toward Meteor when Holy wasn't enough."

"Shut up and get on with it!" someone in the crowd shouted.

She chose to ignore the comment, but her face flamed. "Err… anyways… I ask you all not to panic… but your children are also trapped behind there… with Jenova."

Many of the people in the crowd had shocked faces and some even gasped in horror. Some shouted in anger and others in horror and panic.

"People please!" she yelled, as the yelling got louder. "We all want to get to our children and get them out of there! Jenova is dangerous! I want to clear the rubble out of the way… but I am not strong enough! With our combine powers, we could clear all the debris out of the way, and we could go and save AVALANCHE! Will you be with me in this!"

"Yes!" the crowd chanted as one, though traces of panic were still left on their faces.

She got onto her knees, and as one, the crowd followed her. She raised her hands and folded them in prayer.

The crowd slowly followed, even the children knew how to do this.

Gast watched in amazement, as they all seemed to murmur a chant, one that sounded exactly the same. He looked around; he and Lucrecia were the only ones that were still standing.

The chant became a song, and it was beautiful. He watched Ifalna, her lips were also moving along with it. He could feel the power flowing from each of them… and gathering… and became a large bundle of it.

It moved as one toward the debris. Dust flew up and swirled into the air, and quickly, Gast and Lucrecia covered their faces. They looked down at the people. None of them had budged. They were still there, their hands folded in prayer, their hair flowing with the power emitting from them.

He could catch bits and pieces of the song, but it seemed to be in a different language. It had no harsh sounds in it to make it sound ugly… it was very flowing and it seemed to float right out of their mouths.

Gast found himself swaying to the rhythm of the music. He shook himself. He was here to save his child, not to dance along to the song of the Cetra.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash and Gast turned his face away, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't be blinded.

When he looked back… the path was cleared.

_Well… time to go…_ He thought… looking at the cleared path, knowing that evil was near.

-----

Aeris' wound was nearly all the way healed. Arriya's hands dropped to her sides and she let out a deep breath. Her energy had been nearly all spent. She slumped and looked back at Tifa, who had a smile on her face.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking back at Aeris. "Thank you very much."

Arriya didn't say anything. She knew that it wasn't over yet, Aeris still had yet to wake up.

Tifa heard a gasp. She looked down at Aeris, who was beginning to get her color back. "Aeris? Can you hear me?"

"Ugh…"

Tifa grew excited.

_She's showing signs of life!_ She thought.

Slowly her eyes opened.

Everything was blurry to her face. Who was that? Looking over her? Long brown hair… was it Tifa?

"Aeris… are you feeling alright?" Tifa asked.

She tried to speak, but her lips gave a weak quiver. She shook her head to show she could not control her mouth. She looked back at the fight… and was shocked to see Cloud unleashing Omnislash upon Sephiroth.

-----

The blonde man jumped forward, Ultima weapon at the ready. He unleashed the ferocious move upon the other man, watching as the man flinched at each blow. He had an evil smirk on his face. He would make Mother proud.

-----

Aeris could feel her bottom lip trembling viciously. She wanted to scream and cry out. Every blow that Cloud struck upon Sephiroth was a gunshot to her heart… but all she could do was sit here and tremble.

-----

Nefilim put up his arms in weak defense. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out.

_Just kill me now… _He begged to whomever controlled his life.

Another slash… and then another…

_I never remembered death to be this long…_ he thought. _Death… please… take me now and ease the pain…_

What was that smell?

He knew the answer before he even asked the question. It was the scent of fresh blood… and this time… it didn't smell so sweet.

His mind was whirling in confusion. He had tried to keep up with every slash and stab that Cloud gave.

He was dimly aware of his shoulder stinging… then his ribs… then everywhere…

"AHHH!"

-----

Nefilim's cry ripped through the air, cutting everyone close to him. Every Cetra and AVALANCHE member stood frozen. How could the man who had nearly been immortal… and had almost destroyed the Planet… be so… easily defeated?

-----

Cloud jumped back. He was satisfied with his work. Stinging cuts appeared all over Nefilim's body. Now for the finishing blow.

He looked back at his mother for approval. She tried to look scared… but failed miserably at it. She gave him a lazy wave of her tentacle, approving.

He then looked back at Nefilim… who looked dead on his feet. The man's silver hair was streaked with the dark red of blood. His shirt was cut up and also muddled with blood. He was holding onto a particularly deep wound to his left shoulder.

The blonde man savored this sweet moment. He held onto the Ultima weapon tightly, and slowly wiped his sweaty hands onto the back of his pants. He lazily scratched his messy hair and tried to look nonchalant… but inside… he didn't know why… but there was a dreading feeling of guilt.

He slowly brought up the Ultima weapon and charged up again… for the final blow.

-----

Cid watched as Cloud brought up the Ultima weapon as if he were an executioner. He could almost imagine Cloud saying to Sephiroth, "Do you have any last words?" He had a sinking feeling in his stomach… this was the end that everyone had hoped would not come.

"Aww, shit Cloud! Get over the damn dramatics and end it all!" Barret hollered, looking away, muttering curses under his breath.

_Man… if I could only have one last cigarette before I die…_ he thought, almost chuckling, but restrained himself.

"This is not f---ing right," he found himself saying. "I don't even get a cigarette before I die."

"Shut up, Cid," Yuffie said coldly, in such a voice that was not her usual cheery self. "Don't you realize? This is the end! And now you're sitting here wanting a cigarette? What's wrong with you!"

"Aww nothin'," he grumbled. "Just fancied a cigarette…"

But really… he was just trying to delay Nefilim's death because he knew that this was not right.

-----

Nefilim watched. "Come on, Cloud. Bring it on!" he said in a voice that was hollow and sounded odd.

Maybe it was because he was wild… or just going plain crazy. He didn't know.

Cloud charged forward and leaped up high into the air. Everyone's eyes followed him up.

Nefilim looked up. It was the perhaps the last thing he'd ever see… but yet… he had a feeling of inner peace. Maybe it would be good to just be… gone forever.

His lips curved into a sad smile as the blonde man brought the sword down.

_Maybe everything will be alright…_

And he embraced the blackness of death.

* * *

Thanks to everyone who read this and reviewed this story. And especially Yuka-san who has been faithfully reading and reviewing this story! Thanks so much! And oops... another cliffy. -0 


	23. Chapter 22

Gasp... a few more chappies left... and no... I don't own Final Fantasy VII Square Enix does...

* * *

Cloud wondered, what was that look upon his face? A smile? A sad one? He didn't understand. This man was about to die and he was smiling! Suddenly… he felt guilty.

He brought the Ultima Weapon down. How could he allow himself to be opened to the human emotions? He knew that he was above all of that… and that he was _not_ a mere human weakling… but of the Cetra.

-----

_NOOOO! NEFILIM! _Aeris cried silently in her mind as she watched Cloud's sword brought down.

-----

Gast had an odd feeling. Something bad was going to happen. He could feel it.

-----

Nefilim watched as the sword came inches from his nose. It came closer…

-----

Everyone watched the Ultima weapon was it smashed into Nefilim.

Something happened, light exploded all around them, blinding them. Tifa covered her face, hoping for the best…

-----

Suddenly, everything exploded into white light. Gast quickly covered his face.

"What the hell was that!" someone in the crowd yelled.

Gast began to run… he was right…

-----

Marlene peered around the house. She slowly crept out of her closet. She had fooled Professor Gast, Ifalna, and Lucrecia. Now no one would be able to stop her from helping daddy…

Maybe Barret's audacity and courage had rubbed off on her. Any normal five year old would have screamed bloody murder being in a closet that was so dark that you couldn't even see your hand if you waved it in front of your face. Then again… Marlene was the daughter of an AVALANCHE member… not quite so ordinary.

She took up her father's Dragon Armlet. It clinked as it was lifted up. She stared at the materia placed in all the slots. Barret no longer used this and had left it for her, because now he had the Aurora Armlet.

She ran her hands gingerly over the materia, careful not to drop the armlet. She looked at the deep red summon materia. It was Bahamut. Why her father had decided not to use this, she did not know. It was a quite useful and powerful summon. Then she looked at the Cure materia. It was nearly mastered. Then she ran her hands over the All materia… it would allow her to cast Cure on everybody in her party.

After the Cure materia there was the Bolt materia that was mastered, the Fire materia that was also mastered, and also the Ice… it was almost mastered. She then went back to her closet and rummaged around, finding the dagger that her father had given her to protect herself with. She slipped the belt around her tiny waist and tightened it to the tightest it could go. It was still a little big, but it wouldn't slip off her waist.

She ran out of the house. If anyone were watching, they would see a little girl with an oversized belt holding a dagger with a large Dragon Armlet wrapped around her arm. She had a fierce expression on her face. She was going to help daddy.

-----

The light suddenly faded away, and everything was returned to normal.

Yuffie blinked about a million times. She still couldn't see very well. It was a lot worse than taking a flash picture, because now every so often she could still see the flashing of the lights.

As soon as her vision corrected, she quickly checked in Sephiroth's direction.

She covered her mouth to stifle a scream. There he was, laying on the ground, blood pooling every where around him.

_Oh Cetra… _she thought. _Gosh… he might've murdered… but he didn't do it on purpose… he didn't deserver this. _

Cid couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight because he was still frozen to the ground. His mouth came wide open from the shock.

_Holy shit… man… Cloud… that's wrong… that's wrong. Sephiroth man… you were alright… you were alright… you didn't deserver to die like this… no matter how many freaking people you killed… no one should die like this. _He thought, closing his eyes.

Barret covered his eyes. What the hell was wrong with Cloud! If Aeris getting injured as hell and Sephiroth dying didn't stop him… what could?

There was a long dead silence. Then laughter ripped through the air. "Hahahaha! Very good my son! Very good!" Jenova clapped Cloud across the back with a tentacle, then looked at the others. "Finish them off."

Cloud didn't say anything. He stared at the body laying at his feet. The smell of blood rose to his nose…

"_Sephiroth! What the hell are you doing!" he screamed as the general put his sword through another man._

_The silver-haired man just laughed and turned away, the fire rising up to cover him…_

… "_TIFA!" he screamed as he found her on the ground._

_He gently picked her up, the smell of blood rose to his nose, but he didn't turn away. How could he turn away from his best friend? _

"_Cloud… you're here… for me…" she muttered, her face covered in blood._

_He was speechless… what could he say to her to comfort her? She was going to die… there was so much blood…_

… "_Aeris…" he reached out towards her body…_

_Suddenly, something dropped out of the sky._

_A sword ripped through her body and through her dress like a knife on butter._

_He cried out. The smile that she had remained on her face. Her once bright emerald eyes dulled and she sank to the ground, limp…_

_Aeris…_

_Tifa…_

_Sephiroth…_

"What are you waiting for boy!" Jenova shouted. "Kill them!"

"_The Reunion…" the cloaked man moaned, and fell to the floor, his empty eyes staring into nothing… he was dead._

_Cloud checked the man. He was tattooed with a number, and looked back up. He knew that he and Sephiroth would meet very soon…_

… _Their swords clashed… sparks went flying…_

… _A sword went through Aeris…_

… _She was so bloody… the smell of blood was just overpowering…_

… _The overpowering pain as Sephiroth stabbed him. But somehow… that power went through him… and he picked up the Masamune and lifted the silver-haired man in the process… and threw him off the edge…_

…_Blood…_

…_Dead Aeris…_

…_Tifa…_

…_**Hand the Black Materia to me!**… that commanding voice shouted in his head… bending him to its will…_

"Son?"

"SHUT UP!" he screamed, and fell to the ground, his hands clamped on his ears, not caring that he landed in Nefilim's blood.

Then he felt something warm, wet, and sticky on his ears. He looked down at his hands… they were covered in blood. He opened his mouth in horror and looked back at Jenova. "Mother…"

"Yes son…" she cooed.

He shook his head. Images of a blonde haired lady entered his mind, asking him if the girls were all over him.

_That's mom…_ he thought.

"You're not my mother…" he muttered.

"Yes Cloud!" Tifa yelled.

He looked back at Tifa. "Tifa?"

Tifa looked as if she were about to cry. "Yes, Cloud. I'm Tifa."

"I… I choked you…"

"I forgive you, Cloud!"

Jenova grabbed his head. "I'm your mother boy!"

Cloud saw that her eyes were beginning to glow like before. He quickly turned his head away. "That's not going to work on me again, bitch!"

"Yes it will! Look what you did!" Jenova shoved his face towards the body of Sephiroth.

The blonde man's eyes widened. He remembered every moment of it. His sad smile… and he didn't even try to stop him. He looked down at his bloody hands and cursed in his thoughts.

_Oh shit… why did I kill him?_ Cloud wondered. _What the hell is wrong with me!_

-----

Gast ran into the tunnel and froze. He saw Cloud kneeling down in a puddle of blood… that ran from Sephiroth. Jenova floated near Cloud, her tentacles grabbing his head. Many yards away were Zack, Cid, and Vincent were frozen on the ground for some reasons. Tifa sat next to a trembling Aeris who had a large cut across just above her heart.

"Sephiroth… my poor baby…" Lucrecia whispered, her voice extremely high.

Everyone turned to look at them, all but Sephiroth.

Aeris just stared at them, then turned back toward Jenova, still trembling.

Gast looked at Lucrecia. The poor woman's eyes were filling up with tears. They threatened to fall, but she blinked quickly, trying to keep them in.

"Ahh… I see… the boy's mother… and look… another batch of Cetra for me to have fun with! I'm delighted!" Jenova licked her lips evilly, and turned back toward Cloud, her tentacles went around his neck.

Tifa's back tensed and she stood up. "Let him go!"

"Trying to be the little heroine after your little boyfriend?" Jenova snickered, Tifa's expression turned into pure hate.

The brown haired girl pursed her lips.

_How the hell did she…? _She wondered. Outwardly, she said, "He's my best friend… nothing more." Maybe her voice trembled because Jenova's lips spread into a wide grin.

"I hear denniiiaaaalllll…" Jenova yelled in a sing-song voice.

"Holy shit… first she screams and gets us paralyzed… and now she has to sing!" Cid shouted incredulously.

Everyone ignored the blonde pilot (again…that poor guy).

Tifa did a very un-lady like thing. She spat at Jenova and gave a "you're dead" look.

The monster laughed again. "You may be best friends… but I think you want it to be more than that!"

The martial artist's eyes widened. She was reminded of the day that they had off…

_Cloud had seemed too nice that day… it was so… different…_

_She had been so happy when he allowed her to lean her head on his shoulder…_

"How… how could I…?" Cloud muttered to himself, yet loud enough for everyone else to hear him. "I… I just… killed him… and he… he… didn't even deserve it…"

Tifa couldn't bear to look at him. It was pitiful… seeing her best friend kneeling on the ground looking at his worst enemy that way.

Behind his back, Jenova gave a humongous smile that was just disgusting. Barret turned his head away in disgust and Yuffie made a noise that made her sound half animal.

"That bitch…" Barret cursed under his breath.

Cloud was still on the trembling. He didn't understand and looked at his own hands. All he saw was the hands of a killer.

-----

_Wake up, Nefilim._

_Nefilim? That's not my name. That's the name that Aeris gave to me because I forgot my own._

_What is my real name again?_

…………………………

…………………………

_I can't seem to remember. Why the hell is it so fucking black out here?_

_Hehe… I'm starting to sound like Cid. _

_What happened to me?…_

_Strife…_

_Strife! That bastard! He killed me! _

_It wasn't his fault. It was Jenova's. She was controlling him._

_Damn… how do I get back?…_

_Cloud jumped high above his head… and he smiled a sad smile. He was glad that this was the end. He would lose again…_

_Then… came this blackness…_

_What is my name!_

_Blackness…_

_RGH! Name!_

_Cloud slashed again… and again… the stinging pains of the blows…_

"_You cannot be weak! You are my son! I will not **allow** you to be weak! keep on running dammit! Get back up you sonuvabitch!"_

_What the hell is my name dammit!…_

"_ what's wrong?" his mother asked…_

"_Being a perfect gentlemen aren't you?" Aeris._

_The closeness between them. She had gently touched him… and he didn't understand why… but that feeling of warmth had washed over him… the desire…_

_He didn't even understand why he had gently squeezed her hand back. He remembered as a child… no attachments… no feelings…_

…_No love…_

…_Only hate…_

_But Aeris was so different. She had changed him. She was the first one that had made him smile in a long time. She was so like her father… gentle and kind…_

…_And yet…_

…_She was so different from her father…_

_She made him feel. It was one of those feelings he didn't understand._

_Was that warmth that he felt with her called love?_

…_Haha… that's impossible…_

…_Back to the subject of my name…_

_But he didn't care about his name anymore. He only saw Aeris' face. He knew that he had to wake up again. Just for her. He wasn't going to let Jenova win all this. He wasn't going allow Aeris to… die…_

…_Again…_

_He had killed her the first time. Now it was time to pay her back for all her kindness… care… friendliness… and…_

…_love…_

_I love her… that's what it is…_

…_love…_

_And the warm feeling flooded back to him. And the darkness was expelled… and there came the bright white light._

_He had to turn his face away from the light. He smiled inwardly… the more warmth he felt… the brighter the light became…_

_(You finally understand…)_

_He felt tears flowing out of his eyes. He knew who he was… and he was free…_

_He walked toward the light. He was finally whole man. He knew his identity once more._

_My name is Sephiroth… he thought as tears flowed down his cheeks. _

_Thank you, Aeris… for letting me understand…_

_He opened his arms and ran, engulfed in the brightness of the light._

-----

"I can simply snap your neck…" Jenova purred into Cloud's ear.

He shuddered, chills running down his back from his neck to his tailbone. He looked back at Tifa with his sea blue eyes. She had a pleading look upon her face that told him she didn't want him to get injured. That moment… he thought she looked beautiful, no matter how distraught she was. Her chestnut brown hair was in disarray, but the rest of her was perfection to him.

He quickly looked away. He never felt this way about Tifa for… nine years. When he was fourteen, he had a huge crush on her. She had been the only one who actually cared about him other than his mother… and she had died. She was his only friend then.

"As much as I hate Cloud and I would just love to see his head popped off… I'm sure everyone else wants to see his head attached to his neck… without it broken," said a familiar voice.

Everyone froze at the sound. All of them slowly turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Aeris wanted to scream when she realized who it was.

"It… can't be… it's… impossible…" Cloud murmured as he saw who it was.

* * *

Awww... I luv the part about Sephy... he realizes he's in love wit Aeris! How cute! Anyways! Thanks to Yuka-san and DemonSurfer for reviewing! 


	24. Chapter 23

I don't own FF7 Square-Enix does

* * *

Marlene quietly ran down the smooth, gray cement sidewalk. She did a quick three hundred and sixty degree scan. There was no one on the street. No one even seemed to be looking out their windows. She was too little to think twice of this and continued on down the street, just happy enough to find no one following her.

Her tiny leather belt clicked every time it hit her. She found it irritating and too loud on the quiet street. She closed her tiny fist around it and held it firm as she walked.

She came towards the entrance to the tunnels. Rocks laid strewn all around and a little bit of dust had mangled in the air. It was so thick that you could see it. She covered her little mouth and many tiny coughs.

She passed through, unknowingly putting herself in danger. She didn't know what really lied behind the entrance.

-----

Lucrecia gave a cry of relief as her son stood up. All of the weight of pain gently eased itself off. It wasn't such a burden to her fragile heart. Even though she hadn't seen her son more than a few times… he was still her biological son and her heart still ached for him.

_I had thought marrying Hojo was a big mistake… but I realized I was wrong when Sephiroth was born…_ she thought, wiping away her tears.

She stared at a droplet in her palm. She had cried so much when Hojo had rejected her. She had been a fool when he gave her the hint to marry him. For nine months, she had been blind… and then she knew as soon as she went into labor that Hojo did not love her or their newborn son and only thought of them… mere things… to help him make a successful experiment.

-----

"Ahh… you… boy…" Jenova laughed softly, her tentacles slowly closing around Cloud's neck. Then another tickled his carotid artery, as if playing with it. "Now… why should I… not end his pitiful life? I know you wish it…"

Sephiroth smiled coldly. "Well… it's quite simple. If you _thought_ it over, you would know that he is on the same side. And by the way… the name is Sephiroth… and don't you forget it."

"I saw you die!" Cid shouted, his eyes wide.

The silver-haired man smirked, his cloak wrapped around his entire body, including the black leather trench coat underneath.

"Your… head was smashed… I swear… I slashed down…" Cloud stammered. "I saw you go down…"

"Strife… you know just as well as I do that I don't go down easily," he said, grinning.

Cloud stared at Sephiroth's feet, which were standing in the silver-haired man's blood. "So much of your blood on the ground… how could you… bleed…?" he muttered.

Sephiroth brushed his cloak back, to reveal his black… bloodstained trench coat. Aeris' hands went straight to her mouth and she gave a small gasp. "I don't want to go into the details…" he said quietly.

"That doesn't matter," Jenova sneered, bending down so that her tongue gently ran over Cloud's ear, who shuddered again.

Sephiroth snorted and shook his head. "That's despicable, you know… sexually harassing someone not even of your own race. Are you so desperate that you must stoop so low? Revolting… I tell you… seeing you _licking_ Strife. Won't you leave that poor man alone?"

The monster smiled. "And if I snapped his neck?"

He shrugged. "I doesn't matter much to me… but I tell you… these people behind me won't be happy… and the outcome won't look so bright for you—"

"WOULDJA QUIT STALLING!" Barret screamed at the top of his lungs, he crouched into a fighting position. "DAMN IT MAN! I JUS' CAN'T STAND WATCHING HIM GETTING _LICKED_ BY A F---IN' ALIEN! IF YA AREN'T GONNA FIGHT HER… I AM!"

The large man got ready to use Catastrophe, but Sephiroth held up a hand. "That's not necessary," he paused. "Masamune, come."

Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the man's palm. Then it elongated into a long sword. Then it solidified into the Masamune.

"Oh s---" Cloud muttered, remembering the last time that Sephiroth had drawn it.

Jenova laughed at threw Cloud aside. The blonde man gave a choked cry as he soared through the air and smashed into the wall. Tifa screamed and Cloud spat up blood, feeling that he had cracked (or broken) a rib. The wall had a dent in where Cloud collided with it.

The blonde man made to get up again, but Sephiroth looked at him. "Don't get up, I'll handle this one, Cloud." He actually had a genuine look of concern upon his face, which baffled everyone.

Jenova rose to her full height. She stared down at Sephiroth. "To bad AVALANCHE got to you first last time… because I never got to tear you apart!" She gave a loud croaky laugh and she cast Bio.

It came straight at the man, who stood his ground. The spell hit him hard, but it seemed to melt into him. His left hand crunched into a fist, his knuckles cracking as he did so, and it began to glow a light shade of translucent green. He thrust his arm outward, as if to punch something, but his hand opened and from his palm came a spell that no one had ever seen before.

The alien quickly cast Reflect, grinning. She was going to turn this smart-ass's spell right back at him.

Sephiroth smiled. He couldn't believe that Jenova actually fell for it. His grin grew even wider as he saw Jenova's eyes nearly pop out of her head when it went through her (it?) barrier and rushed toward her.

She screamed as it connected with her and she was sent flying backwards. She smashed into a wall, but it didn't hurt her much. She came floating right back, her eyes bloodshot and glowing with anger. "Very tricky spell."

"I'm glad you liked it," he jeered.

She suddenly cast Blue Light. Immediately, Sephiroth and everyone around him felt the effects of the magic. He felt a little weak, but hurriedly cast an All-Cure3 spell.

He wondered what magic to use, but decided against it. Magic was going to be almost useless to her since she was immune to all of them. Not even Gravity would work.

With the Masamune at the ready, he sped forward. She gave a grin. He knew he was going to have to make this quick. He risked himself a lot being near her, she could easily snatch him and break his neck.

He unleashed two quick slashes, in which she was hit, but it didn't affect her much, for she quickly threw up a barrier spell each time he struck. He was powerful enough to shatter the barrier spell with each blow… but she was powerful enough to set another back up each time.

A tentacle lunged for his neck, he jumped back and slashed at it. It fell aside, limp, purplish blood gushing from it as it landed on the floor. He looked at it with disdain and hurriedly cast a Fire spell on it, just so that Jenova couldn't some how replace the tentacle by reattaching it.

-----

Zack watched his ex-general fight in amazement. He had seen him fight many times, but no matter how many times he watched, he was always amazed at how fast Sephiroth unleashed his moves and how the man thought before using something.

_Come…_

He looked around. Who the hell had hissed that? Maybe he had just imagined it… or he was just going plain crazy, lying on the ground all day. He shrugged it off and looked back toward the fight.

_Come… _

There it was again! He groaned and put his head into the dirt. What the hell was wrong with him! Why did he keep on hearing this… this… voice!

_COME SON…_

It was so beckoning. He groaned again, his head began to hurt. "No…" he whispered to himself. "I can't… I won't…"

_Yes you can… son… protect me…_

_Damn it! _His mind screamed as he lost total control of his body. _How can Jenova control me!_

-----

Jenova cast a Bolt3 spell. It snaked across the sky at lightning speed towards the silver-haired man, who quickly dive rolled and it missed.

He jumped in for another physical blow towards her. He didn't know how the hell he was going to win this, but it was going to be worth a try. He leaped again and lightly landed on the ground. He quickly put his energy into his Fire materia. He cast a Fire3 spell and included a slash along with it.

Jenova didn't even move to block them. Suddenly, a black streak appeared out of nowhere and deflected them straight back at him.

There were vibrations running into his arm. He gritted his teeth, and drew his sword back. Suddenly, he saw the Fire3 spell flying toward him. He back flipped at he felt it narrowly whiz by him. He breathed a sigh of relief and made a quick prayer to those supernatural forces that controlled all.

He looked back at Jenova, expecting Cloud to be standing there, in a trance again. But he was caught off guard when he saw Zack. The man's dark brown eyes were dull.

"Jenova… this is getting old," he said, forcefully, angered to see his ex-second-in-command standing there, under mind control.

He clenched his right hand tight onto the Masamune's handle. He couldn't stand that the person who was almost his best friend was… being used just as a puppet.

He moved strike at Jenova, but found Zack already blocking him with his Buster Blade.

"Damn it Zack! Snap out of it!" Sephiroth yelled, and struck again.

Zack blacked it quickly and he looked at him through hollow eyes. He seemed to see right through Sephiroth with his dead eyes. "Snap out of what?" he asked, monotone.

"NO!" Cloud screamed still leaning against the wall. His sea blue eyes were glowing with anger and pain. "ZACK! What the hell is wrong with you!"

Jenova laughed. She loved to see both Sephiroth and Cloud angered over the same thing.

-----

Aeris felt tears welling up in her eyes. Sephiroth was almost killed, Cloud was extremely hurt… and now Zack was under mind control. It was too much for her to bear in her heart. She didn't where she got her voice, but she screamed.

-----

Sephiroth looked back alarmed. He heard Aeris scream, and that gave him quite a scare. He almost thought for a moment that Aeris… was… was…

He breathed a sigh of relief to find her perfectly well and turned back… to find the Buster Blade nearly in his face. He quickly blocked upwards and the blade went wide over his head.

_That was a close one…_ he thought, sighing.

-----

Cloud watched as Sephiroth and Zack's blades clashed. The two were moving so fast that he could barely catch what they were doing. He was amazed at how graceful Sephiroth seemed, even though his attacks were extremely quick and aggressive. Zack was also using a style that was offense though he used defense just as well as offense.

He thought it was quite ironic that he was actually rooting for his worst enemy when his best friend was fighting him. He clenched his fists. He knew that if he were to fight, he'd serious hurt himself. He wouldn't stand a chance against Zack. He just hoped that Sephiroth wouldn't kill the black haired man.

The blonde man remembered the look of concern on the silver-haired man's face. It was absolutely strange. Sephiroth seemed extremely angered that Jenova had possessed Zack…

_Zack's such a good guy that he made friends with Sephiroth_. He realized, smiling.

The possessed Zack threw a blow with extreme power in it. Sephiroth gracefully deflected it and returned it with a quick slash.

The black haired man screamed as a deep, thin cut went across his chest. Sephiroth swung his fist around and punched the man while he was open. "Wake up already!" he yelled.

Zack wiped away some of the blood that came onto his hands. He laughed maniacally. "Kill me, brother,"

-----

"Why do you push such things onto me!" Sephiroth shouted, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white.

The black haired man didn't answer. He continued to laugh. "Coward!" he screamed as he laughed. "Come now! Strike me down! I'm wide open!" He opened his arms.

Sephiroth was tempted to swing his blade around and decapitate the thing that was using Zack's body… but he knew that he was going to be killing Zack too. "No," he whispered, and dropped the Masamune.

The sword seemed to fall from Sephiroth's hand in slow motion. It clattered loudly on the ground. He looked back at Zack. "No," he said in a stronger voice. "I would willingly kill the thing that is currently possessing his body… but I then I would be killing the man who was like a best friend to me."

"Then you are a fool!" the possessed Zack yelled and charged forward, Buster Blade in hand.

"Well then kill me, why don't you?" Sephiroth asked, his arms opening.

Zack rushed forward, but the blade stopped right at the silver haired man's heart.

_Damn it! Why can't I move past this!_ Zack thought. _Why am I restraining myself! I would make Mother proud by killing him!_

…_."Well this one's special. Her name's Aeris. She's real sweet. She's sure got a green thumb. She sells flowers down there."…_

_Aeris?…_

"_Maybe I can just wake from this dream…" the girl said dreamily, her head on his shoulder._

_He felt so happy that moment. Such warmth in his body…_

"I thought you were going to kill me?" Sephiroth said in an almost amused voice.

He snarled and kicked the silver haired man hard in the chest, causing him to fly backwards into the ground.

-----

_No! Why do all these puppets keep failing! Last time Sephiroth managed to do his job… why can't the others be the same!_ Jenova thought angrily.

"Hmmph… weak…" she muttered, throwing Zack aside with a tentacle. "I'll just have to handle this myself."

-----

Marlene ran into the tunnels, but stopped right when she got to the entrance. The silver haired man who was called both Nefilim and Sephiroth stood, facing a frightening looking monster. The one called Zack was on the floor groaning, and for some reasons, Uncle Cid and Vincent were on the ground, not moving. The flower girl, Aeris was looking towards the battle with fear. Her own daddy was watching the fight and shaking his head. Toward the wall, there was Cloud, who was holding onto his side and also watching the fight. Then there was Lucrecia, Mr. Gast and Ifalna. After that came Yuffie and Tifa.

"I'll just have to handle this myself." The monster said.

"Finally, you have stopped hiding behind those who are weaker than you," Sephiroth said, his sword lying next to him.

Her daddy clicked his gun and looked towards the monster with determination in his eyes. "Ya know what, Sephiroth? I'm righ' behind yo' back this time!"

"Same here!" Yuffie called out, jumping next to the silver haired man.

"Yeah… I would too… if I could get off the floor…" Cid grumbled. "Can anybody get a cigarette out of my pocket and light it for me?"

Suddenly, the blonde pilot realized that he could move. He jumped up and began doing a little dance. Then got out a cigarette and lit it. Then puffed on it.

Marlene suppressed a giggle. Uncle Cid was always like this in times of danger. And he would be with his cigarettes until he died.

The man with the red eyes (whom Marlene thought was a little scary) stood up and twirled his gun. "I will kill you for what you have done, Jenova." He said in his deep scary voice.

Tifa opened her mouth to speak, but Sephiroth stopped her. "Tifa… I know you are wanting to help, Cloud. Go ahead and do so."

"I'm fine back here!" Cloud yelled, standing up, still holding onto his ribs. "I think I'll join in this fight too."

Tifa got into a fighting stance. "If that's the case… I won't be left out of this one!"

The flower girl stood up. Marlene covered her mouth when she realized that the red stuff on her pink denim dress was blood. "I'll fight until I die," she said bravely."

Some of the other people that Marlene didn't recognize stepped in also. Others remained behind.

_Wimps!_ Marlene thought, silently fuming. _I'll help too!_

* * *

Finally! It's so close to the ending I can almost taste it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed this chappie! I luv you all! Plz...I want to try to hit fourty reviews before this story's done! If possible... fifty! 


	25. Chapter 24

"Good! Good!" Jenova cackled. "I'm delighted that so many have volunteered to be executed!"

Sephiroth picked up his Masamune. It rang as it gently whizzed through the air. It seemed to shine brighter in its master's hands.

Cloud drew the Ultima Weapon with one hand. "This just like before… AVALANCHE…"

"Plus a few…" Sephiroth quickly added.

"… yeah… anyways… AVALANCHE destroys Jenova."

"Only this time it's Jenova destroys AVALANCHE!" Jenova yelled, already getting ready to cast a spell.

-----

In the back, Professor Gast, Ifalna, and Lucrecia directed the remaining Cetra. They were going to have them contain Jenova in magic like before, making sure none of her cells escaped, and then freeze her in a cryogenic chamber.

-----

Jenova readied her tentacles. A ball of black energy began to form above her head.

"Uhh… s---… what the hell is that!" Cid yelled, and quickly moved his right arm to cast a spell.

_Concentration…_ Jenova thought.

Immediately, Red crouched, ready to use Matra Magic. Vincent got his gun loaded and Barret had his gun arm trained on Jenova. Aeris was ready to use all the defensive and healing spells in the book. Tifa was ready to just kick the living shit out of Jenova.

"Fire3!" Cid yelled.

"Matra Magic!"

Vincent and Barret both fired madly at Jenova.

The bullets that both Vincent and Barret fired entwined with Cid's Fire3 and Red's Matra Magic. They flamed and turned into the colors.

The flaming bullets soared at Jenova. It smashed into her, but she didn't move. Suddenly, a barrier came up, and the bullets were sucked into the giant dark ball.

There was a loud sucking noise and the energy ball grew twice its size.

"We'regoingtodiewe'regoingtodie!" Yuffie yelled as the energy ball grew even larger.

Black waves of electricity came from Jenova's body and it connected with the energy ball.

The ball began to grow even larger until it was the size of a medium sized room.

Jenova laughed insanely. "How will you be able to defeat this!"

Sephiroth laughed also. "_How will you be able to defeat this!_" he thrust the Masamune in her direction and it traced in an arc around him.

Suddenly, his body seemed to blur… it was as if everyone was watching himhad extremely badnear-sightedness.

A white wing suddenly protruded from his back. Everyone watched stunned as Sephiroth transformed into One Winged Angel before their very eyes.

_Supernova…_ Cloud thought, when he watched Sephiroth transform.

Sephiroth floated up into the air, everyone around him could feel the power nearly jumping off of him. He waved his only arm in the air and summoned Supernova.

A sudden gust began to blow around them.

Aeris' hair was flying in her face. She watched in amazement as a flaming meteor suddenly crashed through the ceiling.

The ceiling tore off and was engulfed into the meteor, making it even larger in size.

It suddenly stopped, it yielded under Sephiroth's might. Jenova began to cackle. "Hit me with that, boy and you'll know that you'll just kill us all!"

"Not true! I control _all_ of it!" Sephiroth yelled, his voice suddenly projected to be as loud as thunder.

"Come, my son! Give me my death once more!" Jenova screamed, laughing. "You'll just kill us all!"

-----

Marlene almost screamed in fear and awe. She remembered the size of the Meteor as it almost hit Midgar. "Daddy…" she whispered, tears of fear squeezing out of her eyes.

-----

With a wave of his arm, the flaming meteor came crashing down toward Jenova.

There was a sudden explosion as everything became engulfed in flames.

-----

Cloud watched the show of all those explosions. Explosions flew off in all directions like bright Roman Candles.

He could feel the heat in his face. He hurriedly put his arm in front of his face to keep his eyes from watering.

It got brighter and suddenly, he felt the wind knocked out of him. He next found that gentle spells flew out of nowhere, came to throw them all back from the explosions. Zack was out in the open and Sephiroth scooped him up in his arms and flew away.

-----

Marlene sweat with exhaustion. She looked down at her Quake materia. She smiled, she had saved Daddy and his friends. She knew that she would be reprimanded for her bullheadedness and quickly headed back.

-----

Sephiroth looked back. He dropped Zack gently on the ground.

Jenova was laughing, she was still alive…

She was covered in flames, and her body was melting quickly. "This is the end!" she cackled maniacally and threw something.

It was a smaller version of the black energy ball. Sephiroth tried to dodge it, but was hit squarely in the chest. He toppled backwards, his wing no longer flapping and he landed hard.

Jenova watched, and laughed again. She was satisfied and closed her now blind andburned eyes.

-----

"Hurry!" Gast urged. "Contain her immediately!"

The Cetra began to chant.

-----

AVALANCHE looked around as the Cetra got to their knees and prayed while chanting.

"Oh wow…" Yuffie said.

Suddenly, a white magic flowed through the sky and it seemed to stifle the flames. It slowly flowed through and slowly lifted the ashes of Jenova and wrapped itself around it.

It went faster and faster, until it hardened. Then it floated down and landed gently on the floor.

Aeris ran to where Sephiroth laid. He had gradually shed his wing, and was back to normal. Black feathers were strewn all over the floor.

"Sephiroth! Are you alright?"

He opened his eyes a crack and smiled. "I'm fine… is she gone?"

Aeris nodded, not knowing why her eyes began to fill up with tears. Sephiroth stared up at the sky, and pointed.

"Look… the sky's clearing," he said.

Everyone looked up, awed.

The sun's gentle warm rays shined down onto their faces. Many began to cheer, they hadn't seen the sun for so long. The dark clouds and smoke gradually disappeared and the baby blue sky came again.

Sephiroth slowly got up. Cloud stood up straight. They both looked at each other and smiled.

"We're free, Cloud! Free of Jenova forever!" Sephiroth laughed, whooping in joy.

Cloud could just smile wider. He felt someone's arms go around him. He looked back, Tifa's head was buried in his back. He turned around and hugged her back. Everyone 'awww'ed.

He turned back to Sephiroth, who was smiling. This was how he had always imagined Sephiroth as. "Sephiroth… when I was small… I used to look up to a general who I thought was always the hero… and not so cold. My dreams were shattered when I realized that man was not really the one that I depicted… and I've been looking for a real hero since. Seems like I finally found one worthy of being called a hero."

Sephiroth blushed and scratched his head. "Thanks Cloud."

"Well… I guess this is all over… isn't it?" Yuffie asked, looking around.

Suddenly, Sephiroth felt someone hugging him. He quickly turned around to find Aeris hugging him tightly. "We've finally won!" she laughed.

He felt warm all over. He knew that everyone was watching them, just ready to aww. She began to laugh and he joined in. "You know… I've been wanting to know if the Great General Sephiroth was huggable," Aeris giggled schoolgirl-ishly.

Sephiroth laughed harder. "Now you know I am!"

Cloud felt happy. He wasn't exactly jealous… he was happy with the girl whose arms were around him. Smiling, he was about ready to begin clapping.

Aeris stared into his mako eyes and were lost in them. She was feeling warm and bubbly inside… if that was a way to describe it.

"You know… I've been waiting for this for eternity…" he said, taking in a deep breath to calm himself.

_Here it goes!_ He thought.

He leaned forward and their lips met. Her arms went tighter around his neck and they were locked in a passionate kiss.

Everyone 'awww'ed again. "Woot woot! Go Sephy!" Yuffie laughed and whooped, clapping her hands hard.

Everybody else joined in, even Cloud (to Tifa's surprise). The two broke off the kiss and Aeris stared at him, breathless. The two couldn't take their eyes off each other. "Sephiroth…" she whispered, her voice dreamy.

"I love you," he murmured into her ear. He saw her brighten when he said this. "I realized this when I was unconscious…"

She hugged him to her again, and the two turned toward the others, hand in hand.

Zack slowly stood up, smiling. He was happy for Sephiroth, but burning up with pain inside. He truly loved Aeris, but he knew that his love would never be returned. He slowly began walking away.

He turned back and watched the scene. How it broke his heart to do so. He kept on going, never turning his head back, his hair covering his eyes so that no one would see the tears running down his cheeks. He slowly picked up the crystal that held Jenova and began walking away, hoping their paths would never cross again.

And they never saw Zack again.

"Hey… where's Zack?" Cloud asked, peering around.

Sephiroth looked toward where Zack once laid. He was surprised that the man wasn't there. He shrugged. "He went off…" he said, looking around. "The crystal's gone too… he must've taken it…"

The next day…

Sephiroth woke up in his own room. He looked around, it was still sort of dark… or maybe it was because his entire room was painted black.

This was his own house that the Cetra had made for him. He began to laugh uncontrollably when he first saw it. They had made every single thing in the house black, making it look droopy. He wondered how in the world had the Cetra known that his favorite color was black.

There was a sudden knocking at the door. He groaned and got up. He messily put on a shirt and went to the door… which was also black.

He opened it. AVALANCHE stood at the door, their faces were all serious. He focused on them. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's about Zack…" Cloud said grimly. "Someone found him frozen in the cryogenics chamber with the crystal in his hand."

Sephiroth's eyes went wide. "He… he killed himself…" he said disbelieving. "Is there anyway to revive him?"

Aeris shook her head sadly. Sephiroth closed his eyes and did some breathing exercises to keep calm. He lost control and his fist smashed into the door.

"Damn it!" he yelled. "Even after you're dead, Jenova… you still manage to win!"

"Sephiroth calm down," Red said quietly, his red tail drooping. "I know you're angry… but Zack's gone."

He sighed. "I know… but he was like a best friend to me… then…"

Everyone could see that there were tears running down his face. He lowered his head so that his hair covered his face. Aeris put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"And I never managed to pay him back for his kindness… and I never apologized for almost killing him…"

"It's alright man… I'm sure he forgave you… he was a good guy…" Cloud said.

Sephiroth looked up, tears still running down his face. He was glad. He had true friends.

**Epilogue**

"Sir! Sir wake up, sir! Please don't die on me sir!"

Cid opened his eyes a crack and light shone into them. He groaned and shut his eyes again. He had a horrible headache. "What the hell?"

He found his junior pilot shaking him. He jumped up and found himself in the Highwind. "What the hell happened!"

"We crashed, sir…" the junior pilot said weakly.

He found all the others awake already and looking a bit dazed. "WE CRASHED!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, rubbing at his temples. "Man… I need some serious aspirin…"

"Uh… yes sir… we crashed sir… and um… there's some aspirin in the medicine cabinet sir… I'll get it if…" the junior pilot's voice died.

"AND YOU SCRATCHED MY BABY!" Cid shrieked, you could almost see sparks flying everywhere.

"Cid, calm down!" Tifa yelled back. "You're making my headache worse!"

"You know… I had the weirdest dream…" Yuffie said, ignoring the two.

"Same here… and everyone was in it… even Sephiroth…" Barret sighed, looking at Marlene who had already recovered from the crash.

"Yeah…" Yuffie shrugged. "Dreams are weird."

While everyone wondered over their "dream", Cid screamed at the top of his lungs. Checking on the Highwind. When he found that the hull had been scratched a bit, he began whimpering and crying.

"I really don't think it was a dream… it was so real…" Cloud murmured, because he woke with Tifa's arms around him.

"Because it wasn't a dream."

Everyone turned. Sephiroth and Aeris stood near them, looking at them with smiles on their faces.

"AHHHHHH!" Yuffie screamed.

Sephiroth gave a tiny shrug. "Hey Cid! When's the Highwind going to get going!"

"Soon!" Cid yelled through his tears and slowly got up.

Then he started the engines again and they were off.

"I think I hear wedding bells in the distance!" Yuffie laughed looking towards Cloud and Tifa and Sephiroth and Aeris.

The sound of laughter erupted through the sky as the Highwind soared proudly in the sun once again. Everything was back to normal… with a few ingredients added.

* * *

Wow... this is actually the last chappie of this story! Whee! Finally! A finished fic! Yay! I'm proud of myself! Plz review for this... plz? Thanks if you do! I hope this ending was a satisfactory one... and plz don't flame me! Thank you all for your support in the creation of this fic! 


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